S.Korea's Lotte Duty Free says China cyber attacks crashed website (updated)

Lotte

02/03/2017 08:32

* Cyber attack downs Duty Free website, virus hits Group 
site 
    * Lotte firm agreed to land swap for U.S. missile defence 
system 
    * China opposes missile system deployment 
    * Korean companies have been reporting difficulties in China 
 
 (Adds government comments, other Lotte China business details, 
share movement, context) 
    By Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang 
    SEOUL, March 2 (Reuters) - A cyber attack from China has 
crashed the website of Lotte Duty Free, a company official said 
on Thursday, at a time when South Korean firms are reporting 
difficulties in China following the deployment of a U.S. missile 
defence system on their home soil. 
    Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks - when servers 
are bombarded with requests - crashed the website around 12:00 
p.m. (0300 GMT), the official with direct knowledge of the 
matter told Reuters, requesting anonymity as the matter was 
sensitive. 
    "The website is down due to DDoS attacks from China," the 
official said. 
    The Chinese website for the entire Lotte Group, 
www.lotte.cn, is also down. It has been offline since Wednesday 
due to a virus, spokesman Kim Min-suk told Reuters on Thursday. 
    "The (two) websites have been down and we are working to get 
them back online," Kim said, declining to comment on the nature 
or origin of the virus or the origin of the DDoS. 
    The crashes comes after affiliate Lotte International Co Ltd 
on Monday approved a land swap to allow the U.S. Terminal High 
Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system on what was once its 
property in response to the North Korean missile threat. 
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nB9N1FA00J  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1GC2QR 
    Neighbouring China objected to the deployment of the system, 
which has a radar capable of penetrating Chinese territory, 
saying it will destabilise regional security while doing little 
to contain heightened security risk on the Korean peninsula. 
    Russia also opposed the deployment, scheduled for completion 
this year. 
    South Korean companies have reported increasing difficulties 
in China since deployment was confirmed in November, with 
Chinese state media calling for a boycott of South Korean goods. 
South Korean artists have also said performances had been 
cancelled without clear explanation.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N1GD37F 
    A spokesman at Lotte Mart told Reuters that the retailer's 
website was accessible on e-commerce platform JD.com (http://lottemart.jd.com), 
 but that the site did not appear in search results. Lotte Mart 
has asked JD.com to address the issue, the spokesman said. 
    Also this month, Lotte Group said Chinese authorities halted 
construction at a multi-billion dollar real estate project after 
a fire inspection.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1FT2P4 
    Shares in Lotte Group's flagship retailer, Lotte Shopping Co 
Ltd  023530.KS , which has about 120 stores in China, fell as 
much as 7.8 percent on Thursday. Lotte Confectionery Co Ltd 
 004990.KS  shares fell 2.8 percent, while the benchmark share 
price index  .KS11  rose 0.5 percent. 
    The South Korean government expressed concern on Thursday 
about the plight of South Korean firms in China since the 
deployment was announced. It said it would continue to engage 
Beijing in dialogue to ensure activities of South Korean 
companies in China are not hindered.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS6N1DM01M 
    "To be sure, the challenges we face are serious," Foreign 
Ministry Spokesman Cho June-hyuck told a news briefing on 
Thursday. 
    Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a 
regular news briefing the same day that China opposes all forms 
of hacking and is willing to work with other nations to oppose 
it. 
    "As for the guesswork of Lotte, I won't make a comment. But 
I think there is no clear answer as to the reason (for the 
attack). This is just their guess," Geng said. 
 
 (Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Additional reporting 
by Hyunjoo Jin, and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Jack 
Kim and Christopher Cushing) 
 ((jungyoon.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5609; Reuters 
Messaging: jungyoon.lee.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: LOTTE CHINA/