Court websites down in suspected DDoS attack

Access to court websites nationwide was temporarily suspended on Thursday afternoon, due to a suspected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

A court plaque in front of Daejeon District Court [YONHAP]

Access to court websites nationwide was temporarily suspended on Thursday afternoon, due to a suspected distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack.

The suspended access was to websites that provide public services such as case searches, and there were reportedly no issues with electronic litigation or the courts’ internal networks.

The Office of Court Administration is taking preemptive measures to block access to the court websites to handle the suspected DDoS attack.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Defense Ministry website was hit by a similar DDoS attack, but the website returned to normal on Wednesday. The websites of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the Environment Ministry, the National Information Resources Service under the Interior Ministry and the People Power Party (PPP) were also hit by a DDoS attack the same day.

On Monday, the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) warned local organizations and businesses of a rising risk of cyberattacks related to North Korea's troop dispatch to Russia.

It warned that South Korean organizations face increased cybersecurity risks, including DDoS attacks, amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

This hinted at the possibility that there could be cyberattacks made against South Korean agencies and entities originating from Russia or North Korea.

A DDoS attack occurs when hackers crash a webpage by flooding the servers that run the site with excessive traffic, overwhelming its connection bandwidth and crowding out normal users.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]