KOREA: Blog hacker threatens singer

KOREA: Blog hacker threatens singer

Pop star blackmailed with media release

The Korea Times
Friday, June 15, 2007

By Kim Rahn

It is not only malicious comments on the Internet that irritate stars. Hacking of stars' blogs is more bothering, as their private life and personal information can be leaked and sometimes used for a crime -- like a recent case involving BoA.

According to the police and S.M. Entertainment Friday, a 23-year-old college student was arrested for hacking a blog of singer BoA and blackmailing her, threatening to spread her private photos.

The student, identified as Seo, sneaked onto BoA's Cyworld blog in April 2006 and obtained photos that she took with a male singer. He sent e-mails to her manager to threaten that he would release the photos if they did not provide money. He took 35 million won.

S.M. Entertainment said in a press release that the victim was BoA and the male singer was Ahn Danny, former member of pop group g.o.d., and the two have been close friends.

"Seo threatened to spread a rumor that was not factual, and BoA's manager tried to catch him by contacting him and giving him money," the entertainment company said.

Seo also sent e-mails to Ahn and his manager on over 10 occasions earlier this month, demanding 65 million won in exchange for not spreading the photos and the rumor. The police investigating BoA's case traced the e-mails and caught Seo, according to the police and the company.

To hide his identity, Seo sent the e-mails with pop star Lee Hyo-lee's e-mail address that he obtained five years previous when hacking Lee's Web sites.

SK Communications, operator of Cyworld, said the police found that Seo did not break into the Web system but logged into the blog with a password that he guessed from BoA's information open to the public, such as date of birth.

However, whether through hacking or logging in with IDs, it is not the first time that stars' blogs with personal information are disclosed, and pressure is mounting that people need to respect stars' privacy.

In April, a personal blog of KBS anchor Choi Dong-sok was hacked and his photos with his girlfriend and anchor Park Ji-yoon were posted on the Internet. The photos were personal and the two reported the leakage to police.

"Public attention to stars is excessive and is reaching a law breaking-level," an Internet user with the ID "Jiyeong" said on Daum.

Date Posted: 6/15/2007