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posted by n1 on Friday April 07 2017, @12:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the listen-all-of-y'all-it's-a-sabotage dept.

Experts are suggesting the in-flight failure and crash of the missile launched by North Korea on Wednesday could have been the result of a "left-of-launch" attack by the United States. While these failures may have been the result of poor engineering on the part of the North Koreans, they may also have been deliberately brought down by the US.

[...] In 2014, then-President Barack Obama authorized additional research into "left-of-launch" efforts to neutralize North Korean missiles, as opposed to the more traditional deployment of anti-missile systems to destroy inbound weapons. "Left-of-launch" strategies involve electromagnetic propagation or cyber attacks against missiles immediately after launch, including through infected electronics aboard the weapon that confuse its command and control or targeting systems.

[...] Part of the beauty of a "left-of-launch" attack, said Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Tokyo-based Nexial Research Inc, is that the North Koreans cannot be sure that any imported electronics have not been deliberately permitted to evade sanctions because they are infected with malware. Similarly, when a launch fails they are also unable to determine what brought the missile down.

Previously: North Korean Missiles and What the US is Doing About It


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 07 2017, @01:37AM (9 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 07 2017, @01:37AM (#489985) Journal

    This sounds like a misinformation campaign to me. "Those crazy gooks can't even build a good missile, but we're going to make them think that it's our fault that the missiles fall out of the sky. Instead of engineering the defects out of their missiles, they'll waste resources trying to figure out how we're fekkin' with their missiles. Actually, we're just fekkin' with their minds!"

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Friday April 07 2017, @01:47AM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday April 07 2017, @01:47AM (#489987)

    It is a LOL attack, after all.

  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday April 07 2017, @02:15AM (4 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday April 07 2017, @02:15AM (#489995) Journal

    Fine by me. I'd do the exact same to them actually; layer on layer on layer of deception and frustration. We cannot let that fat sack of shit succeed in a launch, and this is both the gentlest and most deniable way to stop it from happening.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @02:25AM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @02:25AM (#490000)

      He looks like the North Korean version of Colonel Sanders, waiting to see him in an ad for Korean Fried Chicken.

      • (Score: 2, Funny) by khallow on Friday April 07 2017, @02:31AM (1 child)

        by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday April 07 2017, @02:31AM (#490002) Journal
        It's treason to ask what's in the chicken.
        • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday April 07 2017, @08:29AM

          by MostCynical (2589) on Friday April 07 2017, @08:29AM (#490132) Journal

          free tour of the factory if you do ask (hey, maybe that's where Saddam's 'losing soccer team shredder ended up...)

          --
          "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @02:38AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @02:38AM (#490003)

      Well, rather than subterfuge relating to the electronics NK buys for their weapons programs, we could go direct to the problem and somehow infect the luxury comestibles and spirits that their leadership imports...use something that takes awhile to work in case there are food testers that eat everything first.

      Even spreading this rumor might cause some mischief?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @03:26AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 07 2017, @03:26AM (#490024)

    Thanks to snowden we already know that the NSA intercepts comms equipment en route from warehouses to customers and adds their own backdoors.
    It is no stretch to think they would do the same to shipments destined for the DPRK.
    DPRK nukes are the single greatest near term threat, more so than Iran's nukes ever were.
    Of course we are spending billions of dollars trying to fuck it up in every way possible.

    • (Score: 5, Interesting) by butthurt on Friday April 07 2017, @08:36AM (1 child)

      by butthurt (6141) on Friday April 07 2017, @08:36AM (#490134) Journal

      > It is no stretch to think [the NSA] would do the same to shipments destined for the DPRK.

      It's a certainty that they'd like to do so. That they have the means is more doubtful. Mr. Snowden told us about tampering of equipment shipped by Cisco, which is based in the United States.

      I found a 2003 report, with information from 1993:

      According to U.S. and South Korean government sources, the Pyongyang Semiconductor Factory produces electronic components for missiles. [...] Pyongyang's technological capabilities in this area are relatively backward. According to defector Kim Myŏng Ch'ŏl, North Korea was procuring integrated circuits from the former Soviet Union, later Russia, and Japan to be used in rockets, tanks, and submarines while he worked at the Man'gyŏngdae Jewel Processing Factory from 1986 to 1993.

      -- http://www.nti.org/learn/facilities/190/ [nti.org]

      I should think that the NSA has less ability to intercept packages sent from Russia or Japan, as compared to what it does in its home country. Obviously my source may be outdated. China now has a robust electronics industry, and there too I wouldn't count on the NSA being able to tamper with packages. It's possible that, anticipating such mischief, the DPRK might send an emissary to purchase and pick up critical components.

      • (Score: 4, Interesting) by nobu_the_bard on Friday April 07 2017, @07:52PM

        by nobu_the_bard (6373) on Friday April 07 2017, @07:52PM (#490485)

        Considering they aimed some missiles at Japan, it wouldn't surprise me if Japan shipped them some crummy parts.