South Korea should quickly establish a national-level response system to prevent comprehensive cyberattacks, according to Israeli cybersecurity expert Eran Shtauber.

In an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper on Monday, Shtauber, who is the chief executive officer at ULTRA-RED Ltd., warned that there is a high possibility that Korea will be hit by a wave of comprehensive cyberattacks, noting that the SK telecom Co. hacking incident is just a “trailer.”

Shtauber is a former genius hacker who once oversaw overseas operations for Israel’s cyber warfare unit, Unit 8200.

He noted that cyberattacks, including hacking and ransomware, tend to increase significantly during periods of major societal change, such as elections: Japan also suffered severely from attacks by Russian, North Korea, and Chinese hacking groups around the time of the Tokyo Olympics, for example.

According to Shtauber, Korea is an easy target from a hacker’s perspective if “one decides to go for it.”

He noted that he has seen numerous cases where major corporations had critical holes in their security networks and emphasized that with the launch of a new administration and nationwide restructuring underway, now is the perfect time to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity capabilities.

Lee Hee-chan, head of research at Korean cyber security solution provider STEALIEN, warned that “even military and government agency data is being traded on the dark web.”

“The issue of information leakage has recently become increasingly serious in Korea’s key industrial sectors such as semiconductors, nuclear energy, and defense,” he added.

Shtauber pointed out that individuals now have access to offensive capabilities, once limited to nation-states, as AI-powered hacking tools become more widespread and advised Korea to strengthen its cybersecurity in line with global trends.

Japan has already enacted an Active Cyber Defense Law, which allows for preemptive intrusion into an adversary’s server when signs of a cyberattack are detected to neutralize threats before they materialize. Israel also operates a Cyber Dome system that uses AI and big data to protect national infrastructure from cyberattacks.

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