State spy agency says it has foiled 14 hacking attempts from abroad this year

South Korea's state intelligence agency said Monday it has detected 14 hacking attempts from abroad on the country's key industry technologies in the first nine months this year that could have resulted in nearly 1.78 trillion won ($1.5 billion) worth of damage to relevant companies.

Of the total cases detected between January and September, seven were reported from the country's leading chip and display industries, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The NIS added it has prevented a total of 89 hacking attempts on the country's industry technologies since 2017, and that the proportion of those targeting chip and display related information has increased from 30 percent in 2017 to 50 percent this year.

Such attempts, when undetected, could have cost South Korean companies around 19.4 trillion won, the agency said.

"We will make utmost efforts to protect our national interest by protecting our core technologies, as well as our future core technologies, such as 5G, artificial intelligence and new materials," an NIS official said. (Yonhap)