Experts: NKorea training teams of 'cyber warriors'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By YOUKYUNG LEE

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus is fixed on North Korea, which South Korean security experts say has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the nations' rivalry.

Malware shut down 32,000 computers and servers at three major South Korean TV networks and three banks last Wednesday, disrupting communications and banking businesses. The investigation into who planted the malware could take weeks or even months.

South Korean investigators have produced no proof yet that North Korea was behind the cyberattack. Some of the malware was traced to a Seoul computer. Without elaborating, police said Monday that some of the malicious code also came from the United States and three European countries, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. But South Korea has pointed the finger at Pyongyang in six cyberattacks since 2009, even creating a cybersecurity command center in Seoul to protect the Internet-dependent country from hackers from the North.

It may seem unlikely that impoverished North Korea, with one of the most restrictive Internet policies in the world, would have the ability to threaten affluent South Korea, a country considered a global leader in telecommunications. The average yearly income in North Korea was just $1,190 per person in 2011 - just a fraction of the average yearly income of $22,200 for South Koreans that same year, according to the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130325/DA57QFHG0.html

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In this March 21, 2013 file photo, South Korean computer researchers, left, check the computer servers of Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) as a South Korean police officer from Digital Forensic Investigation watches at the Cyber Terror Response Center at the National Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea. Investigators have yet to pinpoint the culprit behind a synchronized cyberattack in South Korea last week. But in Seoul, the focus remains fixed on North Korea, where South Korean security experts say Pyongyang has been training a team of computer-savvy “cyber warriors” as cyberspace becomes fertile battlegrounds in the standoff between the two Koreas. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

[Generation_Why]

1. The United States definitely needs an army of hackers...

100,000 or more.

It would probably have bipartisan support.

And be one hell of a jobs program.

[daleo]

3. I imagine the CIA and similar agencies have lots of cyber warriors

No doubt the military does too.

100,000 new government hackers would represent about 10 billion dollars, assuming 100,000 per person (salary, benefits, and capital equipment). That's a lot of money. Furthermore, that many government hackers would probably cause a lot of more mischief than they forestall, spying on U.S. citizens more than anything else.

[JVS]

4. Offshore it to India to save money.

[daleo]

5. Or the government could contract it out to private corporations

Who would do just that.

Then, when the government spied on U.S. citizens, it wouldn't be considered illegal, since the hackers wouldn't be on U.S. soil.

I appreciate the irony.

[Kolesar]

7. Software developers working for the government have to be born here*

...to work for certain government agencies. That makes software engineering into a promising career. Let the young ones who are making decisions about careers know that bit of good information.

*By "here", I mean the USA. I mean no disrespect to the non Americans.
You know, we should all be one big community, ultimately.

[FreeBC]

12. They already do this

They don't need contractors to be on foreign soil, they just use the services of non-governmental corporations Like LexisNexis to collect the data for them. As long as the government isn't the one collecting and holding the data, they get around the rules.

[Earth_First]

6. You tread precipitously along the government's wet dream...

While I am sure your intentions may be pure, moral and ethical; creating 100,000 new government jobs whose jobs depend solely on 'hacking' has the grounds (and precedent) to be used in unethical ways...

I cannot support 100,000 new 'jobs' to monitor the daily lives of ordinary Americans.

[groundloop]

8. Good points.... imagine Richard Nixon with that kind of power.

He was horrible enough as it was, but if Nixon had had that kind of power at his beck and call we'd still be paying the price.

[Javaman]

2. The first shots of the next war...

will be fired with electrons and not artillery.

It appears as if NK is doing just that.

[FreeBC]

11. They've already been fired... by us

read about Stuxnet

[Javaman]

13. True. nt

[dipsydoodle]

9. These too

[FreeBC]

10. If we are hacking, how can we object when others do it?

The US is setting the precedent here, and that precedent is that government sponsored hacking is ok.

If we want to prevent foreign hackers from threatening us, the first thing to do is to come to agreement with the major powers, sign a treaty, and stop doing it ourselves.

How can we label something as illegal and object to it when we are doing it ourselves?

[GreenStormCloud]

14. The problem is proving who did the hacking.

It is widely believed that the U.S. and Israel are behind the Stuxnet hacking, but it hasn't been proven. FWIW, Yes, I believe that we did it, but that is beside the point. We don't have proof the NK was behind the attacks on SK, or that China was behind the recent attacks on the U.S. Until thed ability to prove who did the hack attack is developed, treaties are of little use.

[randome]

15. Their 'army' of cyberwarriors first has to get past Level 3 of Galaga.

Then they'll be ready for us!