Microsoft to Open Cybercrime Center in Seoul

Published on 2016/02/28 | Source

Security experts work at the headquarters of Microsoft's Cybercrime Center in Redmond, Washington, in this picture from the Microsoft website.

Microsoft will open a Cybercrime Center in Seoul next month, it was confirmed Thursday.

The company hopes to share information with international law enforcement agencies.

Sources said the opening of the center in Seoul would greatly benefit South Korea, which has been the target of a spate of North Korean cyber attacks.

According to documents obtained by the Chosun Ilbo, the center will open in the 12th floor of the Microsoft building in downtown Seoul on March 4. Its head office is at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and similar branches exist in Washington D.C., Beijing, Berlin, Singapore and Tokyo.

The center will detect and block hacking attacks against personal computers or websites from overseas and can monitor more than a billion computers and other devices around the world.

It shares information with 38 law enforcement agencies around the world, including the FBI.