Hackers Steal South Korean-US Military Secrets

South Korea's military said Friday it was investigating a hacking attack that netted secret defense plans with the United States and may have been carried out by North Korea.

The suspected hacking occurred late last month when a South Korean officer failed to remove a USB device when he switched a military computer from a restricted-access intranet to the Internet, Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said.

The USB device contained a summary of plans for military operations by South Korean and U.S. troops in case of war on the Korean peninsula. Won said the stolen document was not a full text of the operational plans, but an 11-page file used to brief military officials. He said it did not contain critical information.

Won said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that Pyongyang may have been involved in the hacking attack by using a Chinese IP address — the Web equivalent of a street address or phone number.


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A Decade of the Internet

The decade did not begin auspiciously for the Internet; it opened not with a bang, but a bust. However, the 2000 dot.com bust, far from signaling the end of the Web, served as a much-needed “reset” for an industry run amok. Gone were websites with great ideas, fistfuls of cash, and no long-term business plan. (Webvan, Pets.com, Kozmo.com, anyone?) The new crop of sites to emerge from the ashes were sleeker, more nimble versions of their predecessors.

Over the past 10 years, the phenomenal growth of the Web has fundamentally changed the way we live, work and communicate. In November, a Pew Research Center study showed some startling changes in how we use the Internet:

- 2000: 46% of adults used the Internet
- 2009: 77-79% of adults use the Internet

- 2000: 5% of households had broadband
- 2009: 63% of households have broadband

- 2000: 0% connected to Internet wirelessly
- 2009: 54-56% connect to the Internet wirelessly

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