Hacker taps 500,000 personal files

The National Police Agency¡¯s Cyber-terror Countermeasures Center has arrested a computer programmer who hacked into Internet sites and used 500,000 membership files to win a free gift at an Internet raffle, and has charged him with violating the Act on Promotion of Utilization of Information Systems.

According to police, a programmer named Jung hacked into three Internet service providers that offer shoppers the option of comparing prices with other Internet shopping malls, and downloaded personal information of 500,000 shopping mall members on July 6.

On July 20, he tapped into Internet businesses giving away free PC laptops to the top users of their sites and replaced the names of frequent customers with his own.

Investigators said that Jung used the security loopholes in the Microsoft Windows operating system that allows several users to share the same computer.

The NPA warned computer users that the sharing function of Microsoft Windows often is used for hacking, and it recommended that coworkers sharing the same computer in offices should secure their personal information by logging in passwords.