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How Online Clues Located North Korea's Missile-Launcher Factories
itwbennett writes "It all started with a parade through Pyongyang on April 15, 2012, held to commemorate the birthday of the country's founder, Kim Il Sung. At this parade, one thing had analysts buzzing: six mobile launchers carrying KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Bloggers in China quickly noted the similarities between the trucks and those used by the Chinese military, right down to the shape of the windows and the grille pattern. It's the stuff of spy thrillers. A few seconds of video, literature, a couple of memoirs and Google Earth helped locate a secret North Korean military plant — and using none of the classified tools of the intelligence trade."
"This is the world of open-source intelligence."
Remind me again as to how reddit foiled the Boston Marathon Bombing plot?
Tom Clancy would be proud of that one.
Open Sources to find state secrets is somewhat impressive.
Maybe the NSA just needs to learn how to use Google a little better instead of just spying on all of us.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
There's a comment boycott going on to protest the Beta. It's a step up from the flood of Fuck Beta comments.
-=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
Last I checked, those KN-08 ICBM's were mock-ups, not real missiles.
Note that apparently the KN-08 is a liquid-fueled ICBM, which means it is completely useless for defensive purposes (you don't store liquid fueled missiles fueled-up, you fuel them just before launch - which would take too long to allow them to be used to react to an attack), and only really useful for a first strike.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
... revealed the location of its missile-launcher factories." The real story is not how clever the researchers were (though they were clever), but how stupid North Korea's government is.
Ah, come on. Open source intelligence? What's unusual about this?
I remember from Tom Clancy's "Clear and Present Danger" where the CIA was watching Cable News, getting lots of information from what was freely available from the likes of CNN and Fox. I also remember watching CNN reporting from Down Town Baghdad while the US was dropping bombs at the start of desert storm. Can you say instant BDA on the raid? "Yes, our power just went out! Good thing we have battery powered equipment so we can show you what's happening next to ground zero. Oh wow, Baghdad TV just went off the air too!" You know that this often happens in real life.
What's important about this story is that the North Koreans messed up, assuming they intended to keep this development a secret. Somehow, I doubt they made a mistake, but this release was calculated, knowing that the west would figure out what's going on. They are simply too controlling.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
A few seconds of video, literature, a couple of memoirs and Google Earth helped locate a secret North Korean military plant
More like "helped a couple of bloggers locate...". There's no reason to doubt that the US and China already knew about it. Still says a lot about how much information is online these days.
Risking getting downmodded by lurking boycotters....
Filtering out the "fuck beta" comments. I found the comments on slashdot to be saner and more useful on the whole. I'm questioning what loss slashdot might suffer from losing those user because to me it seems like a lot of the acerbic toxicity has gone and disappeared.
"Lack of speed can be overcome. In the worst case by patience." --Znork
Last I checked, the term "open source" referred to "a development model promotes a) universal access via free license to a product's design or blueprint, and b) universal redistribution of that design or blueprint, including subsequent improvements to it by anyone" (Wikipedia). It does not mean "a process for creating online content using information which is freely available." It is worth noting that Google Earth and YouTube, the main tools used, are not open source. Just because something happens on the internet, or can be done for free in your Mom's basement, does not mean that it's open source. Although, I hear that your Mom is open source.
Or...follow the trucks and see where they park. Wow, such spy skills!
You found where they parked the trucks two years ago. You know Google Earth isn't real-time eh?
From the article
"and the lack of any low-level windows indicated the building was either partially buried or blocked in"
That's quite an intuitive leap.. most warehouses and factories in N. America have this same feature except none are partially buried or blocked. It's done for security, secrecy and efficiency. They don't want anyone looking in or out.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
I was interested to see what they'd do and sadly it turns out the pessimism was warranted, they're running phpBB right now.
I think we have legitimate gripes. Not the least of which is that if you're using the new site, clicking these links takes you nowhere.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
Launch some missiles at it, wait for reports to come in on N.K.s largest indoor wedding reception hall being destroyed.
... of freely available information is one of the tools of the intelligence trade. Besides piping your personal data into government computers, there are probably a few departments that spend their days reading international newspapers.
I bet there is a building there with all my missing half-paired socks. Time to get googlin'
Table-ized A.I.
Love them air quotes. Did it switch you back to Classic view to show you the comment? Because this is what the beta gives me when I go to http://beta.slashdot.org/comme...
8/10 made me reply, troll. Next time try faking up a screenshot so you can pretend beta actually works.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.