HP: NORKS' cyber spying efforts actually a credible cyberthreat North Korea is ramping up its cyber spying efforts to the point where it is becoming a credible threat against Western enterprises and government, security researchers at HP warn. North Korea’s cyber warfare capabilities are of particular interest to national security analysts and policy makers but the wider IT industry would …
"North Korea even uses “trolling” as a PSYOP tactic"
It's all so clear now.
All those derogatory comments on register forums about windows 8 were just North Korea's attempt to introduce fear and doubt into imperialist western industry by promoting lesser OS so that Kim Jong Un would not fall even further behind the wests technology curve (currently red hat 4.1)
As a matter of national security all register trolls should be traced and deported back to Pyongyang forthwith.
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Sorry to burst your bubble, but I managed to track traffic of some rather serious trolls that were hellbent upon causing unrest in certain regions to this particular entity.
I'll remind you of this: "Although North Korea’s cyber infrastructure may not measure up to that of wealthier nations, the regime is making significant progress in developing capable and technically trained forces..."
The PRC has quite an exemplary cyber operations unit and education programme. Within that programme is various dialects of English, such as UK, Australian, New Zealand and US English educated upon.
It's quite good.
I am unable to go further, due to various NDA signatures.
"Luckly, we here in free world have the American NSA and British GCHQ to protect us .."
Well, if it's any consolation, there is the US NSA, the US DoD, the US DHS and more "protecting us".
For every charm there is a countercharm.
For every mousetrap, there is a smarter mouse.
To be honest, today's weapon of WMD is an exceptionally cheap one. Education and network access. No Manhattan project, no adding hydrogen species to the mixture, simple network access and education.
I'm an information security professional and one with US DoD experience watching raw logs.
We'll suffice it to say that I'm rather alarmed, not by this, just overall open atmosphere nuclear testing of information warfare.
The harm that can result from some actions *can* result in the use of WMD's.
For, all sides are village idiots and insist upon pushing things in some ways. It'll only take one off programme individual or group to run it all off of civilized information warfare into ruins.
As in, the nuclear clock should be two seconds from midnight.
Worse, I'm an optimist in my field.
Save that HP wasn't the *only* source. It's only the only trivially available publicly available source.
But, whatever. I know what I saw in the traffic and logs, you know far better than I, based upon your Twinkie encrusted sofa in mom's basement.
"Instead, many regime-sponsored attacks are launched from cells based in China, US, South Asia, Europe, and even South Korea.
Such "cells" are likely to be the zombie army at work. It's far easier to run through anonymising botnets than it is to risk your people being caught on the ground.
It's funny how they assume physical presence is required to be a threat.
"Instead, many regime-sponsored attacks are launched from cells based in China, US, South Asia, Europe, and even South Korea."
Interestingly enough, various nations learned the value of buffer nations. China learned of it far, far, far long ago.
The west learns of it at variable lengths of time.
I'm honestly uncertain if the UK or US has the longest record. There were a few gaps, the longest being the US, but some, erm, effort has since been expended...
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"If all the electronic traffic generated by the various militaries is so secret and sensitive, why is it going across what appears to be the "public" networks?"
OK, a primer. First, the traffic is *not* typically over "public" networks. It is over private networks, with various means of encryption, but with internet access.
That leaves a dozen rather sweet spots of vulnerability and more less sweet spots open.
Laundry, food, toilet requirements and more are unclassified and hence, are transmitted on (hopefully) private network connections back home.
Well, that (hopeful) is only that, if a server or certain workstations can "see" said traffic.
Now, here in the real world, food requirements and laundry is the *least* of that which is transmitted on unclassified networks.
One also must include vendors supplying the needs of the defense requirement.
So, what is *your* suggestion?
I'm quite certain it will be outside of mission requirements or general reality.
How devilishly clever of the North Koreans to demonstrate their ability to jam GPS signals - or to test their ability to jam GPS signals - on South Korean ships during a military exercise. Not.
Now the U.S. knows they have this ability, and will be working on countermeasures, which will no doubt be ready in time for when such an ability might have proved actually useful.
Of course, possibly North Korea had an immediate tactical goal, such as trying to get one of those South Korean vessels to sail into their waters as a "provocation", or to be captured. Otherwise, it's the sort of shallow posturing that North Korea seems to have made its trademark.
@John Savard, erm, it's a *bit* more complicated than that.
First, you confuse network centric warfare with electronic warfare, which are two entirely different things, that *may* coincide in some operations.
Second, you manage to ignore the hell out of global history in not noticing North Korea *is*, was and will remain a satellite state of the PRC. That news is only thousands of years old.
Strange that you missed the memo, I got the memo around... Genesis.
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