[August 08, 2011] BRIEF: South Korean police bust online-game hacking ring Tweet SEOUL, Aug 04, 2011 (dpa - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- South Korean police have busted a hacking ring suspected of having broken into online game servers and stolen data, making several millions of dollars in profits, police said Thursday. Four South Korean suspects and one Chinese of Korean descent were arrested, but police said the gang had cooperated with more than 30 hackers in North Korea, who had been trained in the Communist state's elite colleges. The North Koreans had been recruited in China, the Yonhap news agency reported. The hackers developed programs to gain access to online game servers. Those programs were then passed on to clients in China and South Korea who used them to steal bonus points from gamers' accounts. The points can be exchanged for money online. Police believe the suspects made about 6 billion won (5.6 million dollars) since June 2009. Police also suspect the North Korean hackers of having shared their ill-gotten gains with the regime in Pyongyang. South Korean authorities believe the North is behind a series of cyber attacks in recent years against the South. To see more of dpa, go to http://www.dpa.de/English.82.0.html Copyright (c) 2011, dpa, Berlin Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]