A 20-year-old school dropout has hacked into an online banking system and stolen some 50,000 dollars, causing alarm over the security of South Korea's widely-used Internet banking services. Police on Friday arrested the man, identified only by his family name Lee, and an unidentified accomplice, for syphoning 50 million won (50,000 dollars) out of a 42-year-old housewife's bank account in May.
It marked the first time that an online banking account has been hacked and robbed in South Korea, a leader in the number of high-speed Internet users. As of April, the number of online banking subscribers stood at 23 million, about half the country's population.
According to police, Lee attached hacking software to a message he planted on a community Internet site.