A precision digital weapon reportedly created by the US and Israel to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program had a fraternal twin that was designed to attack North Korea’s nuclear program as well, according to a new report.
The second weapon was crafted at the same time Stuxnet was created and was designed to activate once it encountered Korean-language settings on machines with the right configuration, according to Reuters. But the operation ultimately failed because the attackers were unable to get the weapon onto machines that were running Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
WIRED reported back in 2010 that such an operation against North Korea would be possible in light of the fact that some of the equipment used by the North Koreans to control their centrifuges—the devices used to turn uranium hexafluoride gas into nuclear-bomb-ready fuel—appeared to have come from the same firms that outfitted the Iranian nuclear program.
http://www.wired.com/2015/05/us-tried-stuxnet-north-koreas-nuclear-program/
Related: North Korean Defector Warns that Hackers Could Kill.
Original Submission
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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 Monday June 01 2015, @06:02AM
Turns out they had no fucking computers at all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:54AM
Yeah, they noticed that computers are much safer against viruses if you don't let them fuck.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 01 2015, @05:46PM
Actually, telling them not to fuck is a great way to generate lots of extra computers before you're done installing software and switching networks. Viruses tend to thrive as you don't talk about firewalls either.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:10AM
So, by American's own standard, they have committed an "Act of war" against N.K. already.
Who will go to jail for committing an act of war against a country that the Congress had not declared war on?
(Score: 4, Informative) by c0lo on Monday June 01 2015, @06:49AM
Nobody - and technically it is correct.
The Korean War is still on, only an armistice [wikipedia.org] has been signed at the time.
Officially, NK invalidated the armistice and entered a state of war with South Korea [bbc.com] (March 2013) - even advising US of preemptive nuclear strikes [theguardian.com].
Come on, it only happened 2 years ago, this is how short the memory has become? Yes, I know it's likely to be posturing, but still.
https://www.youtube.com/@ProfSteveKeen https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:52AM
No, they tried to commit an act of war, but didn't succeed.
To make an analogy: If you send a cruise missile flying to another country, it's an act of war. If you try to do it, but can't get the missile off ground, it isn't.
(Score: 2) by WizardFusion on Monday June 01 2015, @11:19AM
While true, and I like your analogy, it's the intent that also counts I think.
If they intend to start a war, but can't because 'reasons' then it's still something that should be investigated.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:11PM
Or taking your analogy further: if you try to blow up some crowded place but it turns out that your 'friend' who groomed you and told you it was a good idea and handed you the explosives, was an FBI agent in an entrapment scheme, it isn't terrorism... amirite??? And you should go free, right? Right?
Damn apologists
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:49PM
In this case, it's more like the missile exploding halfway in mid air, while showing clearly on the foreign nation's radars.
Either way, an attempted act of aggression sounds like an act of war to me. Intent counts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @11:26AM
Gotta love the nukular biz, so clean & ethical...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:51PM
Gotta love the knife-making biz, so clean & ethical...
Oh wait, someone using a tool for evil doesn't make the tool evil. Silly me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @03:49PM
Oh wait, someone using a tool for evil doesn't make the tool evil. Silly me.
Good to see someone else on here is anti gun-control! *handshake*
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday June 01 2015, @05:51PM
I have been so happy since I discovered cooking and laundry with uranium-enrichment-grade centrifuges...
What do you mean, those are single-purpose devices?