Altools site hacked

Oh boy. If you were already suspicious about that bloated software suite called "Altools" which you often find installed on most Korean computers still running IE10 and Windows 7, then you're going to love this.

Alyac 알약 description. Image: ESTsoft

Their company homepage (ESTsoft, 이스트소프트, so really "East Soft") got hacked and hackers made off with a huge list of user IDs and passwords. Oops. Not great for a company that markets itself as an internet security leader. They have an English site at http://www.estsoft.com where you can download most of their tools, but the Korean site at http://www.estsoft.co.kr is where you'll notice a company apology letter about the incident.

Screenshot from CNet article about Altools hack, showing company apology letter. Image: CNET

The scary thing is Altools includes a variety of programs. Least risky is Alzip, their compression tool. But they also offer an anti-virus program and a password manager. Most locals are probably familiar with 알약, and if you've noticed a little pill icon in the Windows tray of your ancient school computer that probably hasn't updated its definitions in months, you'll know this program.

Anyway, I doubt this will affect many English readers of this blog, but something to be aware of since I didn't see it reprinted in English language Korean news. Hacks happen, but maybe remind your girlfriend that her laptop should probably have a more robust security in place. My personal beef with Altools is just that it's so bloated and takes long to do otherwise basic tasks, like unzipping a file. Anyway read more (Korean) at the link:

씨넷코리아 | 알툴즈 개인정보 침해사고 “13만 명 털렸다”

By the way, ESTsoft is also the house that brought you the Swing Browser and the portal site that you forgot still existed, Zum.