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S. Korea's Cyberwar Against N. Korea's Nukes

An anonymous reader writes "Yonhap News Agency reports that South Korea has announced it is developing offensive cyber-capabilities to target North Korea's nuclear facilities. Yonhap speculates the tools will be similar to the Stuxnet computer virus the U.S. used against Iran's uranium enrichment program. A report in The Diplomat questions this assertion, noting that a Stuxnet-like virus would only temporarily disrupt Pyongyang's ability to build more nuclear weapons, while doing nothing to address its existing ones. Instead, The Diplomat suggests Seoul is interested in developing cyber-capabilities that temporarily disable North Korea's ability to launch nuclear missiles, which would be complement Seoul's efforts to develop precision-guided missiles to preemptively destroy Pyongyang's nuclear and missile facilities."

4 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. How do they plan on doing that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Just how exactly are they going to disrupt Best Korea? Send a man up with a hammer to start smashing all the vacuum tubes?

  2. Re:NK has limited internet links so are the sites by Sockatume · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't need to be. Stuxnet got into Iran's offline nuclear program computers on a USB stick. The trick is making a really hellaciously virulent bit of malicious software, something that can become a global-level nuisance, and in time it'll find its way onto the target machines.

    http://www.wired.com/threatlev...

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  3. Re:NK has limited internet links so are the sites by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The trick is making a really hellaciously virulent bit of malicious software

    The other trick is not blabbing to the press about what your intentions are.

  4. Re:This is a BAD idea by JeffAtl · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Any foot soldiers trying to walk across the border would be destroyed by air support. When it comes to stopping advances and toppling a government, foot soldiers aren't really relevant.

    That being said, NK doesn't even need nukes to threaten South Korea. The thousands of artillery emplacements in range of Seoul are all that are needed to destroy the city.

    NK wants the nukes to fend off the US, not South Korea.