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Prof. Kim Heung-Kwang has told BBC Click that North Korea has trained 6,000 military hackers capable of attacks that could destroy critical infrastructure or even kill people:
For 20 years Prof Kim taught computer science at Hamheung Computer Technology University, before escaping the country in 2004. While Prof Kim did not teach hacking techniques, his former students have gone on to form North Korea's notorious hacking unit Bureau 121. The bureau, which is widely believed to operate out of China, has been credited for numerous hacks. Many of the attacks are said to have been aimed specifically at South Korean infrastructure, such as power plants and banks.
Speaking at a location just outside the South Korean capital, Prof Kim told the BBC he has regular contact with key figures within the country who have intimate knowledge of the military's cyber operation. "The size of the cyber-attack agency has increased significantly, and now has approximately 6,000 people," he said. He estimated that between 10% to 20% of the regime's military budget is being spent on online operations. "The reason North Korea has been harassing other countries is to demonstrate that North Korea has cyber war capacity," he added. "Their cyber-attacks could have similar impacts as military attacks, killing people and destroying cities."
Speaking more specifically, Prof Kim said North Korea was building its own malware based on Stuxnet - a hack attack, widely attributed to the US and Israel, which struck Iranian nuclear centrifuges before being discovered in 2010. "[A Stuxnet-style attack] designed to destroy a city has been prepared by North Korea and is a feasible threat," Prof Kim said. Earlier this year, the South Korean government blamed North Korea for a hack on the country's Hydro and Nuclear Power Plant. "Although the nuclear plant was not compromised by the attack, if the computer system controlling the nuclear reactor was compromised, the consequences could be unimaginably severe and cause extensive casualties," Prof Kim said.
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2015, @08:09PM
Where's the proof that you are not? Fallacies aside, the proof is in rhetoric and propaganda. Has there been any spike in anti-DPRK sentiment lately? Will there be soon in the future. If so then this account can't be trusted even though it is plausible.
Every so often we get these sort of spikes, usually when nothing else is going on to keep up fear. It has been some months since the last time and there is sufficient things going on to make me believe that this is not a propaganda attempt. Of course that will change rapidly if anti-DPRK news stories hit mainstream news in the next few weeks.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 31 2015, @09:04PM
There isn't. Just strange how we have the Patriot Act close to expiring and now this defector spreading fear about impotent Un to scare people.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @05:06AM
Proof rests on the one making a positive claim.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @07:14AM
OK, I hereby claim that the sun will not raise again tomorrow. Since this is a negative claim, there's no need to proof. Those who claim that the sun will rise again are in need of proof.