posted by
mattie_p
on Saturday February 22 2014, @02:41AM
from the we're-technically-still-at-war dept.
from the we're-technically-still-at-war dept.
fx_68 writes: "South Korea wants to develop cyber-attack tools in an attempt to damage nuclear facilities in North Korea. The country's defense ministry wants to develop weapons similar to Stuxnet, the software designed to attack Iranian nuclear enrichment plants. The South Korean military will carry out missions using the software, according to the defense ministry."
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South Korea Developing Cyber Attack Weapons
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by Popsikle on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:08AM
They don't have them already? Come on, this is really just to cover up the fact that the US has already supplied them with the tools and people and they do not want to be "Snowden'd" about it.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:14AM
Good luck with that. In Korea, only old people deploy STUXNET,
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday February 22 2014, @04:48AM
Come on mods -- that's funny.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by shodan on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:36AM
test
http://example.com/ [example.com]test
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Popeidol on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:58AM
Even then, any documents that came to light would probably reveal how they were obtained and when. The fallout from having your cyberwarfare program revealed is probably less than that of actively lying to your citizens about the extent of it.
It's more likely to be a matter of misdirecting the enemy. By saying you're going to launch an attack, They're forced to waste resources preparing and watching for it. Whether or not you actually do anything, they're still locking down systems, ripping out networks, and eyeing off every piece of software as suspicious. While they're actively removing functionality from their nuclear program, you can quietly infiltrate their powerplant software, or their telecommunications network, or just sit and play starcraft while they waste resources.
It's kind of impressive what carefully-targeted vaporware can do.
(Score: 4, Funny) by MechaStreisand on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:39AM
with computer malware, then the BEST possible strategy is to announce it to the world so they know to load your code onto their systems. Instead of, you know, maybe taking measures to make it harder for your attack to be successful.
(Score: 4, Informative) by hemocyanin on Saturday February 22 2014, @05:03AM
It doesn't really matter if S. Korea gave away their exact plans. The fact is, N. Korea is broke and starving. There is no possibility that it could meaningfully project power beyond its borders. It could probably defend from an invasion for a short time -- days to weeks at most. It could also engage in terrorism, but to think of it as a major danger is kind of silly.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by edIII on Saturday February 22 2014, @03:28PM
Oh, you would be wrong.
1.1 million soldiers, and that Animal Farm republic does feed its soldiers first. There is an additional 8.2 million soldiers in reserve.
It could defend itself for some time, but would not last long. It simply lacks the resources for sustained conflict. That doesn't mean that it couldn't "project power" for a short time. Unquestionably it could cause major loss of life at the DMZ, and possibly, move past the DMZ till their lack of resources stopped them.
That's a last resort to them since they know it would be over afterwards. China will not get involved and support them in a war against South Korea with military resources *again*. China doesn't give a damn about ideology anymore. It's all about the money and industry. Who's left to support them? Iran? With what?
South Korea does need to play this close to their chest. Nukes are the only road for North Korea to go down. They have no other leverage against the rest of the world that forces us to routinely appease them with shipments of food and supplies.
North Korea's entire way of life and strategy with the rest of world wholly depends on terrorism and nukes.
Probably a good idea for everyone that they didn't get them, as they are so isolated and mentally screwed in the head, that launching a nuke against South Korea isn't beyond the realm of possibility if they think the game would be over. By "they", I mean the "pigs" in their 70 year long Animal Farm reenactment.
(Score: 1) by AnythingGoes on Wednesday February 26 2014, @12:52AM
All NK needs is to point its artillery south - Seoul is within 155mm range easily - and that city has lie - 50% of the total South Korean population. Don't tell me they can't find like 40-50 people to man a battery of guns..
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Sir Finkus on Saturday February 22 2014, @06:16AM
It could be a bluff. I wouldn't be shocked if they had agents in North Korea in positions to install "security patches".
(Score: 2, Funny) by TheloniousToady on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:45AM
Since "all warfare is based on deception" as Sun Tzu told us thousands of years ago [wikiquote.org], we can only assume that they're *really* up to something convoluted and sinister. For example, by announcing the intended use of malware, perhaps they hope to provoke the North Koreans into installing McAfee onto their systems, thus rendering them entirely useless.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by omoc on Saturday February 22 2014, @06:16AM
Why on earth do they always have to provoke? Joint military exercises with the US in close proximity to foreign territory and so on... It seems most of it is pushed by the US which has no interest at all in cooling the situation down.
(Score: 1) by etherscythe on Saturday February 22 2014, @11:35AM
My read is it's more of a projection of power, kind of how animals or gangsters make lots of noise trying to prove how strong they are to gain psychological advantage in any fight that may break out. It also helps politically to keep N. Korea from thinking they can get away with anything too particularly egregious. When you share a border with an unstable nuclear power, you want to give them reason to step back and reassess before they have any excuse to feel like they've got the upper hand and decide to push their luck.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mvar on Saturday February 22 2014, @06:37AM
so i went through both linked articles (hooray!) and still can't get it. The south will build their malware and stuff but how are they going to load it into the NK nuclear weaponry systems? Start air-dropping random USB sticks in hope some military officer picks it up and plugs it in the wrong system ?!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by bsdaemon on Saturday February 22 2014, @12:09PM
Well, there is the benefit of looking just like their enemy and speaking the same language. A South Korean spy infiltrating North Korea to plant the virus is a lot more plausible than some WASPy, Yalie CIA guy doing it. You know, just sayin'.