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from the they-still-can't-use-Google-Maps dept.
North Korea has opened a second internet connection with the outside world, this time via Russia, a move which cyber security experts said could give Pyongyang greater capability to conduct cyber attacks.
[...] Dyn Research, which monitors international internet traffic flows, said it had seen Russian telecommunications company TransTeleCom routing North Korean traffic since about 0908 GMT on Sunday. Previously traffic was handled via China Unicom under a deal dating back to 2010. TransTeleCom now appears to be handling roughly 60 percent of North Korean internet traffic, while Unicom transmits the remaining 40 percent or so, Dyn said.
The new external connection was first reported by 38 North, a project of the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
TransTeleCom declined to confirm any new routing deal with the North Korean government or its communications arm. In a statement, it said: "TransTeleCom has historically had a junction of trunk networks with North Korea under an agreement with Korea Posts and Telecommunications Corp signed in 2009."
North Korea's internet access is estimated to be limited to somewhere between a few hundred and just over 1,000 connections. These connections are vital for coordinating the country's cyber attacks, said Bryce Boland, chief technology officer for the Asia-Pacific region at FireEye, a cyber-security company.
Also at 38 North.
A story at Ars Technica, As US launches DDoS attacks, N. Korea gets more bandwidth—from Russia covers this as well, but a comment claims the link is gone:
Looks like it's already gone. They're back to just one transit peer (China Unicom) ..
6506E#show ip bgp 175.45.176.0
BGP routing table entry for 175.45.176.0/24, version 113796754
Paths: (1 available, best #1, table default)
Not advertised to any peer
Refresh Epoch 1
6939 701 4837 131279
216.218.230.129 from 216.218.230.129 (216.218.252.159)
Origin IGP, localpref 120, valid, external, best
rx pathid: 0, tx pathid: 0x0
Another source for bgp info: https://bgp.he.net/AS131279 (javascript required).
(Score: 4, Funny) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:29PM (4 children)
Given that they are impoverished, shut off from the rest of the world and every packet in or out of their country would be subject to intense international scrutiny, I always kind of assumed that NK got their main internet connection from a pringle-can antennae pointed at a McDonalds public Wifi in somewhere in Western Japan.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by fishybell on Tuesday October 03 2017, @04:46PM (2 children)
I would never assume that they don't have multiple access channels beyond their main trunk. Wireless is almost certainly being utilized, as are VPNs to hosted networks outside their IP block.
I certainly hope that the intelligence agencies around the globe also make this assumption, and don't count North Korea out on cyber attacks just because the originating IP wasn't from North Korea.
The same is of course true for every country. One must never assume that the originating IP is magically proof of origin.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday October 03 2017, @05:49PM
Like the idiots uploading beheadings from the desert, I suspect NK uses a significant amount of bandwidth from cheap OTS satellite rigs.
They know probably every packet off their main trunk(s) is being duplicated and analyzed, by "friends" and foes.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Tuesday October 03 2017, @06:19PM
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday October 03 2017, @06:18PM
To use the internet in NK, you have to trust that man.
There was an SN story about this.
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