South Korean banks and broadcasters fell victim to malicious cyber attacks Wednesday, according to CNN.com.
CNN, who cited “officials and the Yonhap News Agency”, said numerous networks were either shut down or slowed down. Officials do not know the source of the attacks but suspicion has fallen to North Korea.
Tensions have risen between the two countries after North Korea’s recent threats of war to its neighbors in the South. North Korea has continued to grow its nuclear weapons program, which has other countries in the world, including the United States on edge.
Even though the attacks hit approximately nine companies, according to Yonhap, no government networks were affected.
According to CNN, a South Korean official participating in the investigation said the cyber attack used a “malicious computer code” and was the cause of the outages. However, no one know how the hackers were successful.
South Korea has reason to suspect North Korea besides its recent threat. South Korea pointed the figure to North Korea in both 2010 and 2012 after it was hit with similar cyber attacks.
Adam Segal, who said that the recent attacks are much like what happened in the past.
"It's happened before in similar circumstances where there have been tensions on the peninsula," Segal said, according to CNN.
At approximately 2 p.m. on Wednesday computers ceased to operate at, Shinhan, Nonghyup, and Jeju,--three South Korean banks.
KBS, MBC, and YTN had different levels of trouble with the attacks. YTN admitted issues with broadcasting as well as equipment, according to Yonhap.
To help with the situation , many banks increased the hours they were open in response to the slowdown. Worri Bank, located in the South Korean capital Seoul, said it was able to withstand attacks. Despite the issues all three broadcasting networks faced, they remained on the air.
