The United States and South Korea said that North Korea expanded its hacker forces and repeatedly invaded the military-related networks of the two countries.

Topic: North Korea’s withdrawal from the Six-Party Talks

It is said that Kim Jong Il (middle), the top leader of North Korea, is very interested in computers and networks.

　　Special correspondent of this newspaper/Zhang Zhuo

　　Claiming that the DPRK expanded its hacker forces and repeatedly invaded the US-South Korea military network.

　　According to a report by Yonhap News Agency and the Associated Press on the 5th, North Korea has expanded its professional hacker unit to launch cyber attacks, which is responsible for collecting information about the United States and South Korea. The United States and South Korea decided to join forces to crack down on cyber attacks against their armies.

　　US and South Korea hype North Korean hacker threat

　　According to Yonhap News Agency, the professional cyber warfare unit of North Korea is called "Technical Reconnaissance Team", which belongs to the Reconnaissance Bureau of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army. At present, it has more than 100 members, mainly graduates from Pyongyang Command Automation University. South Korea’s intelligence department said on the 4th that the task of this unit is to invade the computer network of military institutions, steal top secret information, spread computer viruses if necessary, and paralyze the computer network. In the past, North Korea’s hacker forces mainly collected information about the reinforcement plan implemented by the United States in times of crisis, and at the same time collected information to disrupt the US military network and C4I (Command and Communication) system. However, with the enhancement of hacker forces’ capabilities, their goal has turned to launching cyber wars. South Korean intelligence agencies also revealed that in recent years, the Pentagon has conducted long-term tracking and tracing of hackers who invaded the US military network, and found that North Korean hackers invaded the most.

　　In an interview with the Associated Press, a spokesman for the South Korean Ministry of National Defense stressed that the North Korean hacker forces have upgraded their equipment level and their cyber warfare capabilities have been significantly enhanced. In recent years, the websites of the Korean government and important military enterprises have been repeatedly harassed by hackers, and the Korean intelligence department suspects that it is a North Korean hacker. South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo reported that in September last year, a report submitted by the Korea Institute of Information and Communication showed that large military enterprises such as Lignex1 and Hyundai Heavy Industry found malicious code hidden after hacking in the company’s main computers. Lignex1 is developing and producing Xuanwu surface-to-surface missile, Starfish ship-to-ship missile and Shengong portable air defense missile. Hyundai Heavy Industry Group built the first Aegis destroyer "King Sejong" and various destroyers and submarines for the South Korean Navy. The research and development of these weapons projects are highly confidential. The Korea Information and Communication Research Institute suspects that North Korean hackers invaded the computer networks of these large military enterprises. Unfortunately, I don’t know what information the hackers stole.

　　Korean hackers are very aggressive?

　　In fact, the hype about North Korea’s hacking ability began as early as the 1990s. In 1997, the Pentagon organized a cyber attack and defense exercise, in which the US National Security Agency acted as a North Korean hacker to attack the US military network. As a result, the North Korean hacker could disrupt the command and control system of the US Pacific headquarters.

　　It is said that the development of cyber attack capability by the Korean People’s Army originated from the initiative of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Il himself is very interested in computers and networks. In 2000, when he held talks with visiting US Secretary of State Albright, Albright was very surprised when he asked her about the email address.

　　There are also many theories about how many hackers there are in North Korea. In addition to the more than 100 people claimed by Yonhap News Agency recently, the US Defense News claimed that North Korea established a hacking force code-named 121 in 1998, with a number of 10,000 people, who could use a series of cyber warfare weapons.

　　In fact, because North Korea is extremely closed to the outside world, the analysis of North Korea’s cyber warfare capability is mostly speculation and imagination. Even American and South Korean experts who specialize in North Korea’s cyber warfare have great differences on the ability of North Korean hackers.

　　One school of thought holds that North Korea’s computer infrastructure is weak and its technical level is backward, and it simply does not have the ability to launch attacks on computer networks used by the United States and South Korea. Alexander Mansurov, an expert at the Asia-Pacific Security Research Center of the Pentagon, claimed that "the Korean People’s Army is a force with strong external strength and hollow internal strength. We always like to exaggerate the threat of cyber warfare in North Korea, especially in South Korea."

　　Peter Hynes, an IT technology expert, believes that computer networks are not popular in Korean society, and few people have access to computers, let alone the Internet. North Korea’s computer network infrastructure and talent construction are far behind, and it is difficult to provide the basis for the survival of hackers. In addition, due to perennial trade sanctions and blockades, it is difficult for advanced computer network technology to flow into North Korea. In today’s era of rapid development of network technology, closed doors can only make North Korea fall behind in technology. Therefore, Hynes believes that even if there are hackers in North Korea, its technical level is greatly reduced and it is difficult to pose a threat. Some experts pointed out that the US-South Korea military network is physically isolated from the Internet, and North Korean hackers can’t log in to these military networks no matter how capable they are. For North Korea, computer networks are scarce resources, which are usually built, placed and deployed centrally. Once a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, these facilities are usually the first targets, and North Korean hackers can’t use computer networks to launch virtual attacks anyway.

　　However, the other school holds the opposite view that North Korea’s hacking ability is good enough to pose a fatal threat to the computer networks of the United States and South Korea. Bian Zaiting, an expert from Korea National Defense Science Research Institute, once claimed that after conducting a simulation test of North Korea’s information warfare capability, it was found that North Korea’s hacking capability reached the level of the CIA. North Korea’s hacking ability has reached a level that can cause losses to the command center of the US Pacific headquarters and the power grid in the United States.

　　John Aguilar, a researcher at the RAND Corporation in the United States, stressed that although the computer network infrastructure in North Korea is not strong, North Korean hackers do not launch attacks from within the country, but launch cyber warfare through network servers in the United States and other countries, and collect intelligence throughout South Korea with about 39 network bases distributed around the world. He pointed out that in the event of a crisis on the Korean peninsula, North Korean hackers can tamper with many working procedures of the US military, such as the air strike mission sequencing system and the logistics equipment dispatching system, which will have a fatal impact on the US military’s combat operations.

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　　United States and South Korea join hands to prevent hackers

　　Although how North Korea’s cyber warfare capability is still a mystery, hacking has become an excuse for the United States and South Korea to jointly strengthen cyber warfare attack and defense. On April 30, the defense ministries of South Korea and the United States signed an agreement, and the two countries will strengthen intelligence sharing and jointly crack down on cyber attacks against the armed forces of the two countries.

　　A spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry also revealed that South Korea will also expand its participation in multinational cyber defense exercises organized by the United States. The Pentagon holds an international cyber defense exercise every year, and 15 countries send personnel to participate. The South Korean military participated in this exercise for the first time in 2008 and is preparing to participate in the upcoming exercises in June and October this year. (Zhang Zhuo)

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Editor: Feng Ye