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Australia Vulnerable to Korean Hacking Army

Posted by samzenpus on Thu Oct 14, 2004 04:45 AM
from the hacking-matilda dept.
Security IT
Nan writes "An army of more than 500 hackers hired by the North Korean military could find Australian businesses a "softer target" than their U.S. or European-based counterparts, according to security experts. The hacking army's mission is to break into South Korean, Japanese and American corporate networks to gather intelligence and steal trade secrets, according to reports."
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  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by leonmergen (807379) * <<lmergen> <at> <gmail.com>> on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:46AM (#10521951) Homepage
    ... Western countries unite in a global blocking campaign, virtually disconnecting North Korea from the internet, after a number of government-funded hacking threats from North Korea.

  • This is nuts. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by liquidpele (663430) on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:48AM (#10521963) Homepage Journal
    Why not just cut them off from the internet?
    It's not like anyone but the govt there is using it anyways.
    They can network their country all they like, but why let them play on ours if they can't play nice?

    • Re:This is nuts. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by metlin (258108) * <narayan@f a s . h a r v ard.edu> on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:53AM (#10521990) Homepage Journal
      Because we are not them.

      And it would be a scary precedent. If it's N Korea today, why couldn't it be China tomorrow?

      And you would be harming whatever little percentage of people who use the Internet in N Korea, in the process. Besides, the Internet would be a source of access to the people of that country.

      We all know how well sanctions work, right? It wouldn't make a difference. They're just trying to rake up a noise to garner attention.

      Better that they say they'd hack into networks rather than say they'd launch a nuclear offensive.

      • Re:This is nuts. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by liquidpele (663430) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:12AM (#10522058) Homepage Journal
        precedent? why not?
        If a country tried to take an army into yours, you stop them don't you?
        Well, if the artical is true, it's essentially a cyber-army, so why even give them the chance? For more analogy: You exclude violent people from society in jail don't you? It's common place to separate those who can't play nice from those who are willing.

    • Re:This is nuts. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by torpor (458) <jayv@[ ]th.net ['syn' in gap]> on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:00AM (#10522016) Homepage Journal
      yeah, coz you know, with that American Might you can just block the entire country of north korea from having internet access 'at the flick of a switch'.

      dufus. the internet is everywhere. you can't block all the connections that a 500-man organized team of hackers can set up for themselves .. whatever country they're in, or from.

        • Re:This is nuts. (Score:5, Insightful)

          by torpor (458) <jayv@[ ]th.net ['syn' in gap]> on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:26AM (#10522109) Homepage Journal
          "cut a few cables" .. uh huh.

          look, all it takes is *ONE* connection to the internet, in safe harbour somewhere, and they're back on again.

          just forget it. there's no way to 'cut them all off' from the 'net. its a preposterous idea.

          the only solution is diplomacy. these people clearly think that their position is the right one; well, why is that? learn the answer to that question, and use diplomacy ...

          • With North Korea? (Score:5, Insightful)

            by HBI (604924) <pelander AT eyemud DOT com> on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:48AM (#10522374) Homepage Journal
            Learn history or be doomed to repeat it. This Stalinist state has been immune to diplomacy for the past 60 years. Nothing works. They have three world powers to play off against each other, and China has been shielding them to some extent since 1951.
              • Perhaps you would enjoy millions more dying this time since you blow off the last war and the endless sniping on the DMZ plus cross-border attacks that have been going on since then.

                But yes, diplomacy. Sure.

    • Re:This is nuts. (Score:4, Insightful)

      by invid (163714) on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:45AM (#10522362) Homepage
      The Internet is more dangerous to them than it is to us. Plus, it's healthy for a system to get attacked now and then.

  • Just a hype, most likely (Score:5, Informative)

    by metlin (258108) * <narayan@f a s . h a r v ard.edu> on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:49AM (#10521968) Homepage Journal
    From the article -

    "This is probably more boasting than a real threat. In the past we have seen similar claims from the Taiwanese and the East Timorese," said Hyppönen.

    Heh. Probably yet another of those notice us! notice us! type publicity stunt by N Korea.

    And even if they do hack into an odd website or two, people will start to take notice and will act on it. It's far easier to secure your networks than launch an offensive on N Korea.

    These guys just need to be ignored while they jump around their cages trying to garner attention.

  • Cool (Score:3, Insightful)

    by zxv (815649) <zxv@[ ]me.se ['fix' in gap]> on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:49AM (#10521969) Homepage
    Australian-based firms hold the same intellectual property as their U.S. and EU-based offices, they are not as paranoid about security.
    Sources?
  • The US established here in Europe a gigantic spy network, called Echelon. As we now know they also use this network for stealing trade secrets.

    So, the situation here is not that different here unless no one seems to bother about this...

  • Out of curiosity... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:50AM (#10521974)
    Last I checked you needed electricity to run a computer, and last satellite photo I saw, the North Koreans didn't have any of that.

    I'm betting Aussie networks are safe from their North Korean TCP/Abacus layer attacks.

  • 500 hackers? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by koi88 (640490) on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:52AM (#10521983)
    Note to Kim Jong-Il:
    It's not how many hackers you have but how good they are. One really skilled hakcker can do a lot of damage if he manages to attack at the right point.
    • Stupid American!
      We have storen yor trade secrets aready!
      We now have factories that are assembring *your* most powerfu weapon ever. Frickin sharks with frickin rasers on their heads! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
      Yours trury,
      Kim Jong-Il

      With my sincerest apologies to Dr. Evil, South Park, and all the people in North Korea (where millions are suffering from starvation...)

  • Sensitive information on the net? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by gilesjuk (604902) <giles.jones@nOspAm.zen.co.uk> on Thursday October 14 2004, @04:57AM (#10522000)
    Why have such secrets and sensitive information Internet accessible? it's their own fault if their security methods are weak and information can be accessed by hackers.
    • Amen to that, any company (or individual, or government department) really serious about security practices physical seperation (when possible) with a strictly controlled, non-constant, individual data transfer across the physical gap (ie. no network interconnection, even for a limited amount of time) in addition to using all "ordinary" security measures. Not too many companies so far but I've seen some do it.

      However most governmental systems seem to not do this well enough or be able to... North Korea (o

  • Hype? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Why do I continually get service probes and scans from Korea and Taiwan?
    • It's typically worms that are scanning you. The reason they originate from places like Korea (most the scans I've seen are actually SOUTH Korea, not North.) and Taiwan is that they don't have the network or system security posture most in the west do. I can tell Austrailia's security isn't as strong as ours as I see some of the same worm looking scans coming from systems there.

  • No way matey, not me beer (Score:3, Funny)

    by poo203 (305282) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:00AM (#10522012)
    Crikey! Do you blokes reckon that those little North Koreeun fellas would be able to hack into my beer recipes?
  • I would be very surprised if Australian companies were any more or less vulnerable to hackers than any companies in any other modern Western country.

    And the DPRK doesn't really want to piss us off - we are in a fairly unique position, as a close American ally that has diplomatic relations with the North Koreans. They may be tyrannical thugs, but they're not stupid either, and that diplomatic channel is surely worth more to them than hacking a few corporate websites.

    As for Australia's defence and intelligence agencies, well, we're a branch office for America, and they let us in on a lot (but not all, obviously) of their stuff. That wouldn't happen unless the US agencies were comfortable that the only people that can hack in are, well, themselves...

  • It sounds familiar... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Cronopios (313338) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:00AM (#10522018) Homepage Journal
    I mean, it's just what the U.S. has been doing for years [thenewamerican.com], wiretapping business and private conversations all over the world.

    Quote:
    According to a report commissioned by the European Union, entitled Development of Surveillance Technology and the Risk of Abuse of Economic Information, the system has, since the dissolution of the Soviet Empire, been partially dedicated to industrial espionage.

    According to the New York Times, the report claims that information gleaned through Echelon helped U.S. aerospace firm Boeing win a lucrative Saudi Arabian contract away from a European competitor, and that Echelon was used to help the American company Raytheon "win a bid for a $1.3 billion surveillance system for the Amazon forest away from Thomson-CSF, a French company."

  • Money making algorithm ! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:02AM (#10522027)

    1. Create security firm in your neighborhood.
    2. Write paranoid article in local journal.
    3. Profit! ...err... it should work, shouldn't it?

  • Korean Hacking Army (Score:5, Funny)

    by Raseri (812266) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:06AM (#10522042)
    The most out-of-shape military force on Earth. Their base of operations is their parents' basements. Their rations consist entirely of pizza and Bawls. Their uniform is jeans and a shirt with either the word "w00t!" (for grunts) or the phrase "i read your e-mail" (for officers). Their recruitment literature looks like this:

    HungLo2099: d000dz!!!!11!1!! u could 500000 pwn amerkians!!!1!!!!!
    Z3r0k3wl: kewl!!1! wehre do w3 sign up?
    HungLo69: OMG america iz teh suck!!1!!1 OMGWTFLOLOLOLOL!!!!!1!!1!111!!11!oneone!1
    HungLo2099: d00dz!! u also get free pizza and a t-shirt!!!!1!!!11!
    Z3r0k3wl: w00t!
    HungLo69: pwnage11!11!

    Trust me, I've seen it.
    • Their base of operations is their parents' basements. Their rations consist entirely of pizza and Bawls.
      Whoa. Don't insult your fellow Slashdotters. It's perfectly normal for a 30-year-old to live in his parents' basement. And pizza makes a fine meal -- how else could I have grown to be so, uhm, big and strong?
  • ...... should have kept it an island for criminals I tell ya....

  • You call that a root kit? (Score:5, Funny)

    by mikeophile (647318) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:26AM (#10522108)
    That's not a root kit.

    Here. Now this is a root kit, mate.

  • Australia not as backwards as people think (Score:5, Informative)

    by Exter-C (310390) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:28AM (#10522117) Homepage
    Many people like to think that australia and new zealand are backwards counties down in the middloe of nowhere. In reality many of Australian businesses adopt technology and security standards much faster than thier US counterparts.

    Its funny that many of the best security professionals throughout the 80s where based from Australia. This trend has continued and Australian businesses are often well prepared and secured. This is obviously a fairly big generalisation with companies like Optus having major breakings etc most of the major corporates in australia have a very good security history.

  • Nothing to worry about then (Score:3, Informative)

    by mrjb (547783) on Thursday October 14 2004, @05:51AM (#10522197)
    "The hacking army's mission is to break into South Korean, Japanese and American corporate networks to gather intelligence and steal trade secrets, according to reports."

    So, if I understand correctly, Aussie businesses may be a softer target, but they aren't targeted.

  • invalid assumptions (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rob101 (809157) on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:07AM (#10522238)
    I think that this report was perhaps written from an angle that assumes we ride kangaroos to school, after all we have to. They are the only thing that gets us out of range of those pesky crocs! IMHO - As a PhD comp-sci student 'down-under' we are FAR from being the bottom of the pile in the tech industry and further from being a soft electronic target. I'll worry about the north korea electonic threat when they can feed their own population!! -- Throw another shrimp on the barby luv!

  • This message... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Izago909 (637084) * <tauisgodNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:08AM (#10522241)
    Brought to you by the same people that guaranteed WMDs in Iraq and Osama captured within a year, and a link betwen them.

  • Only 500 Hackers? (Score:5, Funny)

    by salvorHardin (737162) <adwulf&gmail,com> on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:13AM (#10522255) Homepage Journal

    Wow, that Korean hacker training program must be tough... there were 600 of them [slashdot.org] a week ago.

  • This story sounded like bullsh*t a week ago (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Peter Simpson (112887) on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:22AM (#10522277)
    ...and it's getting riper. Sounds more like someone's trying to sell anti-hacker insurance. Personally, I'd be a lot more concerned about botnets than some alleged "security expert" warning about an "army of hackers" in some place he knows I can't check.

    There. Thanks for letting me get that out.

  • I (heart) /. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by (arg!)Styopa (232550) on Thursday October 14 2004, @06:30AM (#10522309) Journal
    3 posts and 2 are from the "I HATE AMERICA" crowd and have already been rated 5-interesting.

    Don't you people ever sleep?

    Every country practices espionage. EVERY country. The US, with its technical resources, has been very successful in the past in elint. The Soviets were particularly successful with their humint efforts.

    I don't think anyone is saying the North Koreans don't have a 'right' to form their 'hackforce' (it's only leftists and liberals that talk about 'rights' in geopolitics anyway); I think the point is that their calling attention to it is the sort of attention-whoring that suggests that it's less a real exercise than cage-rattling.

  • More Power To them (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Deliveranc3 (629997) on Thursday October 14 2004, @07:38AM (#10522687) Journal
    They aren't competing in those markets so there is no real reason to deny them access to the info!

    Sigh technically superior communists who would have thunk it. :)
  • The hacking army's mission is to break into South Korean, Japanese and American corporate networks to gather intelligence and steal trade secrets, according to reports.

    Gather intelligence of non-existant plans for North Korean campaigns? And gather trade secrets to keep them competitive in what? Subsistance farming? What do they even produce? You could ship trade secrets by the boat load and it wouldn't do them a bit of good.

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