Advance information did not prompt a response.
The U.S. Government now admits they did not properly handle the situation. Sources have revealed that the South Korean government knew in advance that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that hit multiple web sites of major institutions in South Korea had begun earlier in the United States.
Late last week South Korea’s intelligence agency briefed its lawmakers on circumstantial and technical evidence behind their belief that North Korea was behind the recent cyber attacks. Other intelligence sources went as far as to state that Kim Chong Un, the third son of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, was the mastermind of the cyber attacks that have hit government computers in the United States, South Korea and other some 14 other countries.
Foreign intelligence sources have also reported that the North Korean government sent a cyber contingent of approximately a dozen people across the northern border into China to conduct some of the operations and that Kim Chong Un actually was in commanded of that unit. Also sources have speculated that North Korean Research and Development Unit (110 or 101) and Cyber Warfare Unit 121 were the primary military units involved in the planning and execution of the DDoS style cyber attack. At least one Republican lawmaker urged President Obama to take retaliatory action (cyber attacks) against North Korea for the cyber attacks launched last week.
Given the extremely limited telecommunication infrastructure (estimated 1.18 million phone lines) and the limited Internet connectivity (given the less than 80,000 broadband connections) a cyber attack would be next to useless. After studying and researching the cyber attacks the following observations are offered.
1. The current U.S. defenses against cyber attack are woefully inadequate against even moderate level attacks as we have just experienced.
2. The fact that these attacks were well-coordinated, lasted as long as they did and were able to bring down a number of sites says more about the state of our defenses than the moderate rated offensive cyber capabilities of North Korea.
3. This clearly shows the need for the international agreement for cyber attack investigation cooperation that has been called for by many cyber warfare experts including me. These attacks were routed/launched through compromised computers in 16 countries.
4. Reports that the Department of Defense was not alerted to the attacks and found out through the media indicate that better coordination between DOD, DHS, DOJ and other government organizations as well as the private sector is critical in times of cyber attack and therefore must be improved and maintained.
5. There are unconfirmed reports for typically reliable sources that a South Korean intelligence agency has obtained documents ordering North Korean army units to start the cyber attack. If true, this could be the smoking gun! Once verified, that would open the way for retaliatory action.
North Korea is an interesting creature. It has learned that when it wants/ needs aid, it just has to threaten to restart its nuclear reactors.
The international community has given into them time and again, so they have learned that blustering works. To Obama’s credit, NK is not getting the response they want, so they are taking it up a notch. The multiple missile launches, the cyber attacks, etc…
Now, the US response is very important. If the NK government can be verified as the source of the cyber attack, could this be considered as an act of war? Just as if one of the missiles that they launched struck a communications building in Hawaii and caused downtime. Or, will the US respond as if an espionage assault was carried out on US turf and respond covertly?
Also, what would be the appropriate level of response? If China was involved do we respond against them also?
Cyberwar can become very convoluted in a heartbeat. National and International policies need to be defined and enforced. Our defense must be cutting edge and our response swift.
Regarding point number 5: North Korean launches illegal missiles and nuclear bombs without consequence. Do you really think we’re going to “retaliate” for them geeking out?
You said it yourself, they don’t have squat for insfrastructure for us to attack, so what could we do?
North Korea is a country that thrives on war and totalitarian control. We could destroy the entire population, and still there’d be hundreds of casualties just trying to get past their automated, “revenge” defenses. Cyber warfare is just another way to piss off the rest of us.
DDoS is not ‘cyber-war’. It is an annoyance taken from the play book of 1990’s era teenagers. This event once again underscores our official mis-understanding of the technology and ‘attack’ at hand. Thank god NSA ‘gets it’, cause congress doesn’t.
DDoS played an interesting role in the current affairs of Iran.
A DDoS attack was created through somewhat non-technical means, but was used very effectively in shutting down Iranian government systems.
I would have to say that was more than just an iritation to Ahmadinejad and company. It was a powerful political statement in a nation that could be making a change of leadership.
If a foreign nation purposely uses technology of any kind to inhibit any communication in the United States, it should be considered an act of aggression, if not war, and should be dealt with accordingly.
I saw good on NK, at least they are showing us all just how weak Obama is.
Elect someone who is has no military BG and this is what you get. The most powerful country ever doing SQUAT!
They want a cyber war give them one! No deaths required.
Is it a bad thing that warnings were ignored?
The downside was that a few websites were down for a couple of days, max, and in many cases just a few hours. The harm was not comparable to ignoring warnings of 9–11, or Pearl Harbor, or some such.
The upside was that the got a real world test of the effectiveness of our cyber security measures against real hackers along with data about their methods. We also avoided the money involved in heeding via a government-wide panic over gillions of equally plausible false alarms.
@JOhn Moore
what kind of trol-shit ar you smoking again?
North Korean launches illegal missiles and nuclear bombs without consequence.–
North Korean launches illegal missiles..–
–..launches illegal missiles..–
–..illegal missiles..–
WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. dude you save my day!
I wish we could have a filter for the brainless comments that add NO value and their posters that do not have the capacity to professionally debate the critical issue that this blog brings up!
By the way there is a typo
It says flying fart and should be brainless fart!
These attacks are associated with war, as we have seen when Russia used them, along with a conventional military campaign, against Georgia.
However, I wonder how much disinformation the governmental bodies use with these attacks. After all, wouldn’t showing our full capability in a relatively minor attack by N. Korea be a bad move? Doing so would allow them to plan a better attack when a large conflict erupted.
Considering how far the US is behind in science, tech and math this should not surprise anyone. We need to make it a priority that we have skilled thinkers in this country. If some nation decides to take down key networks we are in a world of hurt. For example all of our Nuke Plants are monitored by one key office in Atlanta. What if you attack that location and create a false warning.
Turns out it originated in the UK, not North Korea:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/15/hacking-usa
Short Link:
http://tinyurl.com/mx8gqy
The
Haa,I’m glad I have no confidence in GOV info!
Have you seen:Wordpress before? They have literal ping back choices etc.…And my https,from them never works???? I’m smelling a worm then.
Ok, this is getting to me.
If none of the combatants are part robot/human, then it’s not a cyber attack. Same for cybercrime or cyberspace. Cyberspace is fiction, used in appropriately 10 years ago when reporters didn’t know better.
Instead, we have The Internet. Internet attack is a simple, straightforward term. Same as “Air Attack” or “Sea Attack.”