Australia Vulnerable to Korean Hacking Army

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."

In other news...

[leonmergen]

... 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.

Re:In other news...

[WaR.KiN]

Time to send in Team America.

Out of curiosity...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Well - US does similar things...

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever, and the CIA created AIDS to kill black people, but it got away from them.

Next!

Re:This is nuts.

[leonmergen]

Yeah well, they should stop giving hackers from N Korea moderation rights anyway... :)

Hype?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do I continually get service probes and scans from Korea and Taiwan?

Seems that Mr. Il also plays computer games...

[Anonymous Coward]

He must have come up with that idea while playing C&C:Generals. Since he's also rumored to be a great fan of pr0n he probably won't share his female superhackers with us. : /

No way matey, not me beer

[poo203]

Crikey! Do you blokes reckon that those little North Koreeun fellas would be able to hack into my beer recipes?

Re:In other news...

[Pantero Blanco]

You mean Slashdotting them? ;)

Re:In other news...

[Anonymous Coward]

And the Western Coalition comprises... Poland.

Korean Hacking Army

[Raseri]

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.

Not likely a problem

[subStance]

As a closet Australian, I'd just to like to reassure everyone out there that there's nothing worth stealing in Australia anyway - not even information ... so it's all moot.

Move along .... nothing to see here.

Now be careful

[koi88]

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?

Re:In other news...

[DigitumDei]

Well a week ago it was 600 hackers [slashdot.org].

Looks like some of them failed to perform and were "fired". ;) I figure every time they fail we should see this number drop. *can just see the article in a few months time "Korea's 34 man hacker army"

Re:In other news...

[byolinux]

Time to send in Jeff K.

Damn Australians

[linsys]

...... should have kept it an island for criminals I tell ya....

You call that a root kit?

[mikeophile]

That's not a root kit.

Here. Now this is a root kit, mate.

Re:In other news...

[essreenim]

Yes, you just cant trust those kaola bears - always working with the enemy..

Re:If its becoming more clear N Korea is hostile

[rts008]

Better idea: Spam them with GOATSE wallpapers for their desktops. They want "IP", give em more than they can stand!

Oh yee of ritter faith...

[csguy314]

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...)

This message...

[Izago909]

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?

[salvorHardin]

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

Note to script kiddies: Use North Korean proxies

[ArsenneLupin]

Important note to script kiddies: When hunting for ASP-"enabled" web sites for testing your SQL-injection skills, use a North Korean web proxy.

CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

[marktaw.com]

DEAR SIR,

CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL

HAVING CONSULTED WITH MY COLLEAGUES AND BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE North Korean CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY, I HAVE THE PRIVILEGE TO REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE TO TRANSFER THE SUM OF $47,500,000.00 (FORTY SEVEN MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) INTO YOUR ACCOUNTS.

Re:In other news...

[Otter]

Nonsense! North Korea has a number of consumer products and markets them internationally -- liqueurs, for example [210.145.168.243]. And with marketing like "It slightly tastes of acorn.", "Burning taste. It makes a clear distinction from other 'quaffable' liquors." and A descent scent of a Korean soil floats in a mouth. Free from soju-related strong odor and tastes palatable.", I don't see how they can go wrong.

Ha, should be entertaining at least

[clambake]

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.