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The US Tried to 'Stuxnet' North Korea’s Nuclear Program

posted by martyb on Monday June 01 2015, @05:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the Pandora's-Box dept.

AnonTechie writes:

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.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:02AM (#190573)

    Turns out they had no fucking computers at all.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:54AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:54AM (#190583)

      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

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday June 01 2015, @05:46PM (#190797)

        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

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:10AM (#190575)

    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

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday June 01 2015, @06:49AM (#190581) Journal

      Who will go to jail for committing an act of war against a country that the Congress had not declared war on?

      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

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @06:52AM (#190582)

      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

        by WizardFusion (498) on Monday June 01 2015, @11:19AM (#190639) Journal

        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

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:11PM (#190677)

        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

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:49PM (#190696)

        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

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @11:26AM (#190641)

    Gotta love the nukular biz, so clean & ethical...

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @01:51PM (#190698)

      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

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 01 2015, @03:49PM (#190746)

        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

        by bob_super (1357) on Monday June 01 2015, @05:51PM (#190800)

        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?