Defense Ministry Computers Hacked

The Defense Ministry has become the target of a hacking attack that appears to have come from North Korea.

"Seven personal computers in the ministry's policy and planning departments were hacked into and some data was leaked between late January and early February," a military official said. The hackers got hold of the e-mail addresses of several ministry officials and the content of some message.

The attacks occurred at a time when the ministry should have been on high alert after North Korea's nuclear test and rocket launch. But a ministry official claimed the affected computers are not connected to the ministry's intranet and no military secrets leaked out.

The ministry suspects the breach occurred after ministry officials accessed the website of a military research institute that had been infected with malicious codes. The ministry says it has now performed security sweeps on all its computers.