Australia Vulnerable to Korean Hacking Army 329
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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Cool (Score:3, Insightful)
Well - US does similar things... (Score:2, Insightful)
So, the situation here is not that different here unless no one seems to bother about this...
500 hackers? (Score:3, Insightful)
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.
Re:This is nuts. (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Sensitive information on the net? (Score:3, Insightful)
I find this difficult to believe... (Score:4, Insightful)
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...
Re:This is nuts. (Score:4, Insightful)
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
Money making algorithm ! (Score:4, Insightful)
1. Create security firm in your neighborhood.
2. Write paranoid article in local journal.
3. Profit!
Re:If its becoming more clear N Korea is hostile (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus these 'reports' are from South Korea (as shown in the last
Re:This is nuts. (Score:5, Insightful)
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
Re:Hype? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Just a hype, most likely (Score:5, Insightful)
Or perhaps a "notice us! notice us! type publicity stunt" by western security experts?
I note the article does not quote any North Korean sources
invalid assumptions (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:If its becoming more clear N Korea is hostile (Score:4, Insightful)
This story sounded like bullsh*t a week ago (Score:5, Insightful)
There. Thanks for letting me get that out.
I (heart) /. (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
Re:This is nuts. (Score:4, Insightful)
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More Power To them (Score:3, Insightful)
Sigh technically superior communists who would have thunk it.
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You need computers to have hackers . . . (Score:3, Insightful)
"http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/020
North Korea doesn't even have an actual link to the Internet of its own. It's government web site is run by an ISP in (IIRC) Taiwan, and its only connection to the Internet is provided by a South Korean telecom company, which also hosts its IP addresses.
I'd be a lot more worried about a mercenary group like Dyncorp hiring a bunch of hackers. Give them a couple million bucks to hire a herd of hackers, set them up in Vanuatu with a couple of T3 lines and they could shut down entire countries. The biggest problem would be keeping them on-target rather than attacking each others machines. Security isn't a concern, since no one ever listens to us geeks.