N Korea’s cyber warriors steal military secrets from the South

SOUTH KOREA: North Korean hackers stole secrets from the South Korean military unit responsible for fending off cyber attacks, the Seoul government has admitted, in an embarrassing demonstration of its neighbour’s increasingly potent digital warfare capabilities.

The hackers installed malicious software on the military ‘‘intranet’’, a supposedly isolated internal network, in September.

‘‘It seems the intranet server of the cyber command has been contaminated with malware,’’ an official of the South Korean defence ministry said.

‘‘We found that some military documents, including confidential information, have been hacked.’’

The security breach happened after a South Korean officer violated procedure by leaving a computer connected to the internet. It was through this portal that the hackers penetrated the closed military system.

The attack originated in the city of Shenyang in China, where North Korean cyber warfare units are known to operate.

"Given that the malware is similar in form to kinds made in North Korea . . . the North was probably behind the cyberattack." South Korean defence ministry

‘‘Given that the malware is similar in form to kinds made in North Korea, the ministry suspects that the North was probably behind the cyber attack,’’ a spokesman said.

‘‘The ministry cannot announce the extent of the cyber attack,’’ an official said, ‘‘because that would in part send a message to the hackers that their attack was successful, and further compromise the military’s cybersecurity system.’’

According to a defector, North Korean war plan for the the invasion and conquest of South Korea begins with a series of cyber attacks aimed at paralysing the enemy in advance of assault by air and ground forces.

One attack would be directed at electricity infrastructure, another at South Korean and United States weapons systems.

Pyongyang’s cyber warriors have already carried out successful attacks on South Korea - including jamming GPS navigation over Seoul’s Incheon airport, and infecting computers at banks and television stations.

There are believed to be 3000 to 12,000 ‘‘information soldiers’’ - as hackers are called - in the North. Many study at Mirim University and Moranbong College in North Korea, and some are trained in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, before working as part of the Reconnaissance General Bureau of the Korean People’s Army.

North Korea has also suffered minor cyber attacks including the defacing of a propaganda website with the image of the supreme leader, Kim Jong Un, as a pig.- The Times