![]() There have been increasing calls for the improvement of the Korean Internet banking environment and the target of criticism has usually been financial authorities like the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) and the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, which controls e-government sites. It was pointed out that Active-X provided an easy route for cyber criminals spreading malware for the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The Korean reliance on Active-X became a hot topic again last summer when a massive Internet attack left more than 80,000 Korean computers crippled. This is a risky arrangement, since Active-X controls require full access to the Windows operating system, and could be abused by cyber criminals to compromise the user's control of the computer. Instead of a security-based model, Active-X relies on simple ``yes or no' signatures to allow users to judge whether to download a control. ![]() The Korean dependence on Active-X is unique, as security concerns have limited the deployment of the technology elsewhere. This prevents users of non-Microsoft browsers such as Firefox, Chrome and Opera from banking and buying products online and forced Mac users to buy Windows CDs to prevent their computers being reduced to fashion items. Since the fall of Netscape in the early 2000s, Microsoft's Active-X, used on its Internet Explorer (IE) Web browsers, remains the only plug-in tool used to download public-key certificates to computers. The Korean law mandates all encrypted online communications to be based on electronic signatures that are enabled through a public-key infrastructure. It all starts with the Microsoft monoculture in computer operating systems and Web browsers here, which is blamed for limiting Korean computer users, leaving them stuck with outdated technology and exposed to larger security risks. However, in Korea, often described as the planet's broadband capital, computer security firms appear to be developing a dual reputation, with critics debating whether they are moving efforts for a safer Internet forward or derailing them. The need for Internet security continues to grow, and this has anti-virus software makers touting themselves as the guardians of the networked world.
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