As Pyongyang moves ballistic weapons to the coast, it may also be planning to disable computer networks in the US.
The North Korean regimes plan could be to break into US computer networks to steal information and spread viruses, Jang Se-yul, who defected to the South in 2008, told the Observer. North Korea’s hackers are suspected of being behind recent cyberattacks that paralyzed computer networks at several South Korean banks and broadcasters.
“It would demonstrate that North Korea is a strong cyberpower,” Jang said. “Their prime target is the US, and they’ve been preparing for something like this for years, including when I was there in the 1990s. I can’t say how successful they would be, but it’s a possibility.”
Servers at South Korean broadcasters YTN, MBC, KBS, and two commercial banks, Shinhan Bank and NongHyup Bank, were brought down Wednesday in a cyber attack from an IP address originating in China. The computer crime agency in South Korea believes North Korea is responsible. It could take weeks to know for sure.
Thee US military is prepared for any military attack, but what about a cyber attack? Is the US prepared for Wall Street to crash? Or to have Fox, CNN, and CNBC taken offline for a day? And if so, would that be considered an act of war? An act of cyber war?
Cyber war is a whole new ballgame. An estimated 32,000 computers in South Korea were affected by this latest attack. If the South can definitively prove it came from Pyongyang, would they be justified in making a military strike in retaliation?
There have also been recent attacks on Microsoft, Apple, Twitter, Facebook, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Bloomberg News. All were attacked from a Chinese IP address.
The free dictionary defines “act of war” as “an aggressive act, usually employing military force, which constitutes an immediate threat to peace.”
North Korea’s military is no match for the US, but does the US have equal hacker power?
