South Korea battles with massive gaming security breach

Whilst not specifically online gambling associated, an internet security breach in the South Korean general i-gaming industry is causing concern due to the sheer volume of players that have likely had personal information stolen.

Information Week reports that the authorities are still investigating the widespread breach of personal information on some 27 million online gamers, most of them between the ages of 15 and 25 years.

The JoongAng Daily newspaper reports that the police in the South Jeolla province have arrested a 24-year-old man with the very common last name of Kim, who allegedly acquired names, registration numbers, account names, and passwords on the 27 million victims from a Chinese hacker he met in 2011 in an online game.

15 other suspects have also been detained as enquiries continue.

Kim used the stolen information online to illegally and dishonestly earn himself an estimated $400,000 before he was apprehended.

Police claim that he gave a percentage of his ill-gotten gains to the Chinese hacker who sold him the stolen information, and additionally sold parts of the information package on to other internet crooks such as mortgage fraudsters and phony gambling advertisers.

Investigators have remained close-lipped regarding the progress of their enquiries, and it is not yet clear how the information was originally stolen by the first seller. Various hacking possibilities have been discussed, but there has been no confirmation.

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