Cyber attack traced to domestic computer By Kang Seung-woo The cyber attack against network systems at TV broadcasters and banks originated from a local computer not from an IP address in China, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said, Friday. The broadcasting watchdog had earlier announced the malicious codes came from a Chinese IP address, hinting of North Korea's involvement in the attack. The attack damaged computer networks at KBS, MBC and YTN along with Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju banks, Wednesday. “We had mistaken a private IP address used by NongHyup as an official IP address allocated to China,” the KCC said in a statement, without elaborating on the possible attacker. Cheong Wa Dae ordered Friday all related government agencies to make preparations for possible hacking attacks, calling for the expansion of the nation’s cyber warfare forces. “A joint reaction team is striving to find out who the hackers are by analyzing malicious computer codes and restoring damaged computer systems,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said. Despite tracing the malware to a domestic computer, North Korea still remains as a key suspect masterminding the massive hacking. “We are concentrating our investigation on pinpointing the perpetrator of the attack and tracing the source of the malware with all possibilities open. It’s certain that one organization orchestrated the attack, but we haven’t figured out who did it,” said an official from the joint reaction team comprised of government and private experts. Korea has about 400 personnel under the Cyber Command, a special unit launched in early 2010, but the military will increase the number of personnel to more than 1,000 in the wake of the growing cyber threat, a senior military official said. “Threats of cyber warfare have become as serious as those of missile and nuclear weapons,” the official told Yonhap News. “Our military plans to expand its cyber warfare forces in the future.” The official added that expansion has been carried out by advanced countries in efforts to enhance their cyber warfare capacity to deter missile and nuclear threats with no loss of life. "We will continue to secure cyber security forces like advanced countries that put no ceiling on the number of cyber warriors," he said. Meanwhile, the KCC said Shinhan and Jeju Banks have completely recovered their networks, while NongHyup is still in the process of normalizing its system. TV broadcasters KBS, MBC and YTN have recovered roughly 10 percent of their attacked systems, and no further damage has been detected, it added. ksw@koreatimes.co.kr,