North Korea attempts horror cyber terror attack on the South’s train network

NORTH Korea has tried to attack South Korea’s transport system by hacking into railway workers' emails, spy chiefs say.

Bosses at South Korea’s National Intelligence Service issued a statement overnight saying they had managed to stop the brazen attempts.

The agency issued the statement after an emergency meeting with other government agencies on the threat of cyberattacks by the North.

The statement said it had detected hacking attempts by the North against workers for two regional railway networks this year.

A spokesman said: "The move was a step to prepare for cyber terror against the railway transport control system.”

South Korea has been on heightened alert against the threat of cyberattacks by North Korea after it conducted a nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket launch last month, triggering new United Nations sanctions.

The southern neighbour had previously blamed the North for cyberattacks against its nuclear power operator, which the North denied.

It did not elaborate on what it thought North Korea's specific objective was in hacking into the system. An agency official reached by telephone declined to comment.

North Korea has been working for years to develop the ability to disrupt or destroy computer systems that control public services such as telecommunications and other utilities, according to a defector from the North.

The United States accused North Korea of a cyberattack against Sony Pictures in 2014 that led to the studio cancelling the release of a comedy based on the fictional assassination of the country's leader, Kim Jong Un.

North Korea denied the accusation.

In 2013, South Korea blamed the North for crippling cyberattacks that froze the computer systems of its banks and broadcasters for days.

New fears of attacks on the computer systems came as South Korean and US troops conducted large-scale military exercises which North Korea denounced as "nuclear war moves" and threatened to respond with an all-out military offensive.