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North Korean Hackers Are Targeting US Defense Contractors (wpengine.com)
chicksdaddy quotes Security Ledger:
North Korean hackers have stepped up their attacks on U.S. defense contractors in an apparent effort to gain intelligence on weapon systems and other assets that might be used against the country in an armed conflict with the United States and its allies, The Security Ledger is reporting. Security experts and defense industry personnel interviewed by The Security Ledger say that probes and attacks by hacking groups known to be associated with the government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have increased markedly as hostilities between that country and the United States have ratcheted up in the last year. The hacking attempts seem to be aimed at gaining access to intellectual property belonging to the companies, including weapons systems deployed on the Korean peninsula.
"As the situation between the DPRK and the US has become more tense, we've definitely seen an increase in number of probe attempts from cyber actors coming out of the DPRK," an official at an aerospace and defense firm told Security Ledger. The so-called "probes" were targeting the company's administrative network and included spear phishing attacks via email and other channels. The goal was to compromise computers on the corporate network... So far, the attacks have targeted "weakest links" within the firms, such as Human Resources personnel and general inquiry mailboxes, rather than targeting technical staff directly. However, experts who follow the DPRK's fast evolving cyber capabilities say that the country may have more up their sleeve.
CNBC also reports that America's congressional defense committees have authorized a last-minute request for $4 billion in extra spending for "urgent missile defeat and defense enhancements to counter the threat of North Korea."
Other countries newly interested in purchasing missile defense systems include Japan, Sweden, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.
"As the situation between the DPRK and the US has become more tense, we've definitely seen an increase in number of probe attempts from cyber actors coming out of the DPRK," an official at an aerospace and defense firm told Security Ledger. The so-called "probes" were targeting the company's administrative network and included spear phishing attacks via email and other channels. The goal was to compromise computers on the corporate network... So far, the attacks have targeted "weakest links" within the firms, such as Human Resources personnel and general inquiry mailboxes, rather than targeting technical staff directly. However, experts who follow the DPRK's fast evolving cyber capabilities say that the country may have more up their sleeve.
CNBC also reports that America's congressional defense committees have authorized a last-minute request for $4 billion in extra spending for "urgent missile defeat and defense enhancements to counter the threat of North Korea."
Other countries newly interested in purchasing missile defense systems include Japan, Sweden, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.
Our good friends in Russia are still doing lots of business with North Korea.
Donald, they're laughing at you, not with you.
https://www.theatlantic.com/in...
You are welcome on my lawn.
of course they are. It would be silly if they weren't. Hell, I'm sure our allies are targeting us and we're targeting them. That's just the nature of these things. The fact that we can read stories about it means NK isn't very good at it.
Now, watch the news. If you start seeing more and more of these kind of stories about scary things NK is doing that's when you start worrying, because it means our media is gearing us up for war with them. Go look back at media coverage before Iraq/Afghanistan if you doubt me.
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that shit don't need to be there, for fucking ducks' sake.
"I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot someone, and people would still vote for me."
Yes, dear Trump supporter, you're a fucking moron. Even Trump himself thinks you're a fucking moron, and he was right, because he told you to your face, and you still voted for him.
So why should anyone take seriously anything that comes out of this stupid, worthless, moronic, retarded parody of a brain of yours ?
Since the USA has enough military capability to "nuke the site from orbit, just to be sure", several times over, this seems like a wasted effort.
Do you care exactly how many megatons of nuclear warheads were used to eradicate you? Is this so NK can know exactly how much overkill the USA could bring to bear if they wished to do so?
Honestly, everybody involved knows the standoff is dependent on China and Russia as well as having Seoul within shelling range... almost nothing about the precise American capabilities matters.
Why have sensitive mil and contractor data in plain text on random internet facing networks?
What is US counterintelligence doing?
Watch the contractor network and use lots of encryption. Compartmentalize projects and data. Just in time from just about any company is not secure.
The next question for the USA is the quality of its mil, gov and contractor human security.
Who is around your bases, ports offering mil/contractors pleasure, alcoholic beverages and cash for US secrets?
Start doing interviews and background reports on all mil officials and contractors.
Look for new wealth, holidays, police reports of loud parties, home improvements, a new car, unexpected shopping, gifts, changes in personality, boasting.
Look at the cell phone movements of at risk mil/contractors. Who are they meeting, talking to? What new cell phones do their cell phones stay next to for some time?
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Sounds like the usual government/security-industrial-complex trolling for more funding/authority. Been there, heard that.
For those not paying attention Wikileaks have revealed extensive technical details about the CIA's ability to force certificates and plants traces into systems to frame people for the actions of the US security agencies.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/cia_kaspersky_fake_certs_ploy/
While I have no doubt that North Korea would gladly do so, but we need to face a few facts about the ability of the NK's to really do this much damage.
north korea can actually make a fusion weapon? I've only seen yields consistent with a boosted fission weapon. North Korea has no weapons with sufficient power to attack the USA with EMP. It's hot air.
That has to be propaganda. I've read North Korea doesn't even have computers.
#DeleteFacebook
While I tend to agree with your analysis, if you're incorrect it will be very difficult to put the toothpaste back in the tube. The longer you wait the worse the eventual outcome will be.
Why dont we make it easy for poor old kim. Lets make a little back door for encryption on all our phones. :)
I can see him grinning ear to ear if that ever happens. ROFL
[($)]
I'm not claiming NK can do it, NK is claiming they have the ability to launch an EMP attack. If they're bluffing someone should call them on it.
1. They're having a very difficult time with getting those missiles to leave the launch pad. It's almost as if something were swatting them down shortly after launch.
It's called technical incompetence.
The only reason we do not hear of all those other countries hacking the US defence systems is either because they don't want to, or because they are better at it (than N.K.) and cover their tracks.
Rather than thinking that NK represents some sort of technological elite, intent on harming the USA, the government should remember that they are the least capable "power" trying to do this. So instead of defending against them and then thinking that is sufficient, a responsible attitude would be to understand that every other government is doing the same - but without getting caught.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
if anyone does network monitoring, and IPS/IDS stuff - this has been ongoing for the last 15 years.
either America media is an idiot, probably, or the media is an idiot for finally reporting what everyone like a teenage with a Linux box with a static IP and fail2ban has installed and monitoring the logs. set don't come back for a year or so.
just block transient countries from internet access to the US internet network assets and you have your hackers blocked..
https://apple.slashdot.org/sto...
[($)]
Filled with anti-NK propaganda, in the Korean language.
No, seed the honeypot with "plans" and "manufacturing data" for the new American "quantum wormhole bomb" of infinitely powerful capabilities and that has already been deployed in DPRK territory using "microdrones." Start a snipe hunt that diverts Un's military in hilarious directions until it runs out of resources.
Radiation...fallout...prevailing winds....cancer in America. See a progression doofus?
Yeah!!! Let's sacrifice the South Korean and Japanese. We'll show them we mean business....oh...wait a minute...they are our allies...maybe we should ask permission first before we rain nuclear fallout on their countries.
I don't know how far you can count but I'm sure someone is capable of counting up to any amount of deaths.
nkh r ? since when ? oh yeah, since obama. get a clue ppl.
What do you think NK is doing to the US right now?
They keep baiting Trump, knowing that he will be unable to resist responding with a tweet or vague threat, which only makes him look even less capable of actually doing anything to improve the situation and strengthens Un's position as a player on the world stage.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I hardly think Trump is acting unilaterally here. Strategists are using him as a psychological weapon against Un, who probably believes that Trump has the power to press the nuclear button out of personal pique.
Every country with internet infrastructure is attempting to hack, probe, manipulate every other country.
Why pick on NK?
Funny how dirty tricks are ok if we do it to them, but oh horror! They're trying to do it to us! Badness! "We" being any first world country.
"IMO the scariest scenario is NK allying with an adversary of the US and it's allies and giving them a small nuclear weapon to smuggle out"
Yeah, this isn't new or unique to the current confrontation. This is, in fact, the basis for our policy towards NK for decades. Extra points for you when you name the primary and most visible partner of the NK regimes involved.
"NK represents the first and what will likely be the largest failure of the UN and US policy. Continually ignoring the buildup of weapons and failing to find a solution to the artillery pointed at SK and Seoul, combined with support from two communist regime neighbors, has brought us to this place."
Amen. Decades of attempted appeasement and waiting for the NK regimes to come to their senses has led us to both the risk of further proliferation and danger to all peoples. The NPT should be more fully expanded to become nonnegotiable, binding on all nations, and specifically include enforcement and preventative measures. Despite the inflammatory rhetoric, the US is not likely to unilaterally use nuclear weapons, not is it, despite the fever dreams of the Left, likely even to use nuclear weapons as a first retaliatory response. We know the consequences of being the first, so far only, nation to actually use nuclear weapons. That is not lost on even the current Administration. Whatever else you may believe, such an act would be taken only after careful deliberation, and that itself makes the act much less acceptable. The US conventional forces are more than adequate to deal any aspiring nuclear state a crushing, fatally overwhelming blow in response, and it is doubtful any other nation would either oppose such a response nor even denounce it.
This is a failure of the UN, the nuclear capable nations, the NPT, and those nations that support and defend NK brinkmanship. Calling these nations to account is long overdue. Some have regularly, in their own language and in international forums, called for the destruction of the US. Aggression by these nations need not be tolerated, and their actions are being exposed now for us to consider as we move forward through this definitive era. Either we defend freedom or we perish, literally, for the Left doesn't use violence as a last resort, it uses it as the most effective tool to accomplish their goals.
"back channel talks with NK, China and the US should set up a way for denuclearization"
True, and this is how diplomacy is traditionally employed. It is done in secret, however, and such silence is useful for opponents of the US, foreign and domestic, to spread doubt and fear, and to obstruct the process.
"Rhetoric and totalitarian systems from the Stalinist NK government would, over time, be less effective for its populace and result in a natural normalization, and the Chinese could take a more active role in making NK a loose protectorate of sorts."
Communism kills in two ways - first, the imposition and maintenance requires killing the opposition. Second, the overthrow is usually bloody, a counter-revolution. The North Korean people will have to change things, and that seems unlikely for the moment. China would likely replace the outright NK communism with the laissez-faire Chinese communism is half a loaf, better but
No matter what, this problem cannot be ignored. NK doesn't want to be another Libya that denuclearizes and then has regime decapitation foisted on it, and it will eventually act if only because of some misinterpreted act of escalation. If the end goal is peace and prosperity for all sides, then give NK and SK that path and reduce the rhetoric.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
...who probably believes that Trump has the power to press the nuclear button out of personal pique.
He does. Frightening thought now aint it?
he's laughing with them and at us.
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They keep baiting Trump, knowing that he will be unable to resist responding with a tweet or vague threat, which only makes him look even less capable of actually doing anything to improve the situation and strengthens Un's position as a player on the world stage.
Ok, so what is the proper response? How does he respond without improving Un's position on the world stage? Or how does he respond to limit the nuclear capabilities of NK? Considering the last 30-50 years I don't think there has been any response that has worked.
Besides, if the only response are Tweets or vague threats then that is definitely better than preemptive war.
Because the USA, despite its flaws, is still a pretty remarkable place.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Stick with the sanctions and food aid. Work with China.
I mean, I agree but hasn't that been tried the last few number of decades with limited to no success? At some point it is a failed policy. Continuing a failed policy is stupid that will be taken advantage of by other foreign entities.
at least that route does not lead to a catastrophic war
Does it? It hasn't lowered tensions. It hasn't stopped the rhetoric. It hasn't stopped the posturing. It hasn't limited nuclear proliferation. It hasn't done anything to establish a peace agreement beyond the armistice. Seems like all it has done is buy time for NK to build up so that we are in the situation we are in today. Seems to be the policy of Neville Chamberlain. Are you sure that NK will be content with their current border and drop their idea of unity of the peninsula when they achieve the nuclear capabilities they aspire? Can you guarantee the US will always be there for SK and Japan?
Perhaps, the way to get China to do more is for Japan and SK to get their own nuclear weapons. It seems that without the UN actually enforcing non-proliferation it is a failed policy that sanctions or food aid will not solve. MAD is a viable alternative that has worked before. It is reasonable that if SK or Japan face a nuclear armed madman neighbor they be armed as well to defend themselves to the extent of any attack.
Compared to petty insults or threatening tweets... I'll take the insults and threats.
The war games and aggressive stance have been tried for just as long. When do we say that has failed?
We need to do one at a time. They are working against each other. The diplomacy is the only thing that de-escalated and prevented war so far. And it's had other successes, like progress on the kidnappings. The joint economic area is another example.
NK can't do anything about their border. They know that. Their motivation at the moment is MAD with the US and making the most of the opportunity Trump presents.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
The war games and aggressive stance have been tried for just as long. When do we say that has failed?
I agree. So if either policy is failed. What's next? Action? Threatening Tweets sound a whole hell of a lot better than anything either you or I have mentioned. They are not constructive but nor has the last 30 years of policy. Again, to your OP what policy will make trump look capable? Obama did the opposite and he looked like a damned fool while acting presidential. Nothing can be done to look capable because there is nothing capable of working that hasn't been tried short of war.
Their motivation at the moment is MAD with the US
No matter what we do then they can do that. Sanctions, diplomacy, posturing, or threats be damned. The UN is a toothless animal. Non-proliferation is a failed policy. How many other nations or leaders will take note of that weakness and abuse it for their own ends? Once they get those weapons you cannot remove them. Hooray, Chamberlain in the 21st century where every despot and madman have a nuke.
had other successes, like progress on the kidnappings. The joint economic area is another example.
That's good but has done nothing for the underlying problem.
Are you really saying that starting a war with a tweet is now the best option?
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
No, I said " Tweets sound a whole hell of a lot better than anything either you or I have mentioned. ". My point was that in your OP there is nothing that Trump, or any US president, can do to look capable while not strengthening Un's position in the world stage. Between failed policy that emboldens Un or failed policy that angers Un, threatening tweets are hardly a problem.
Filled with anti-NK propaganda, in the Korean language.
No, seed the honeypot with "plans" and "manufacturing data" for the new American "quantum wormhole bomb" of infinitely powerful capabilities and that has already been deployed in DPRK territory using "microdrones." Start a snipe hunt that diverts Un's military in hilarious directions until it runs out of resources.
I don't remember the details, but back in the Cold War US intelligence knew the Soviets were going to steal something in particular at a particular, so they put an altered version for them to steal. They built theirs according to the stolen specs...and it blew up on them as designed. I like your plan, too.
We could have had Ted Cruz as a Republican candidate.
But that would have been disaster, for he would have played by the 'rules', and been defeated, and a Clinton presidency would be the end of our democracy.
This is all in large part the result of the unholy alliance of the Democratic Party, the major media in the US and worldwide, and the global Leftist movement. They have elected twice a man who admitted to a relationship with a junior intern that would have resulted in a high school principal being dismissed in similar circumstances. His wife served as a Cabinet officer, during which their own private foundation accepted millions of dollars in donations from foreign powers in a manner that should raise serious questions about her ability to act int eh best interests of the US. We elected a President of dubious qualifications, and then watched as he ruled by Executive Order, permitted his Attorney General and FBI Director to plainly state that a former Secretary of State violated federal record keeping law, yet refused to prosecute the prima facie case, and was heard telling then Russian President Dmitri Medvedev "After my election I have more flexibility" during a global nuclear security meeting.
And now the complaints about our current President include unsubstantiated reports that he engaged in unseemly and disturbing acts during a visit to Russia - reports discredited, and on their face not merely irrational but the work of fantasy - that he has enacted Executive Orders undoing previous administration acts, which is legal and not even unprecedented, accused of a cozy relationship with the current President of Russia, and that claimed relationship to be one detrimental to US interests, despite evidence that his predecessor had similar a relationship with the previous Russian President. Our current President's offense? Not kowtowing to the established order.
We have the President we have for two overriding reasons: First, too many Americans no linger believe either major party acts in their interest, and it should be plain to any moderately curious observers that there is ample evidence for such a belief, and second, because he pledged to do things these Americans wanted done. And he is, in fact, making marked and obvious progress in doing so.
Our current President is a breath of fresh air, BECAUSE of his uncharacteristically blunt manner, his lack of political polish, and his unwillingness to play by the established insider rules.
Of course I would not lump our President into the group of " criminals, psychopaths, and overall scum". But given the credible reports of other politicians in the US engaging in frauds and deceits to ensure the results of candidate selection, the obvious money-laundering of one party, the still unresolved matters of a former Secretary of State and the handling of emails, records, and classified information in plain violation of law, the compelling evidence of intelligence gathering by our former President of information about an opposition party's Presidential candidate during the last months of the campaign, acts which should send a chill down every American citizen's spine, the revelations of political organizations denied fair or at least equal treatment by the IRS in an manner that is difficult to explain in any other way than deliberate politically motivated interference, it should be more understandable that our nation suffers from a breakdown in the rule of law inspired, abetted, and promoted by actions from the very top of our federal government.
American citizens have spoken. A change was demanded. It was made. Our Presidential elections are designed to favor a consensus of states for indeed our nation is named the United States of America. The dichotomy between urban and rural populations emphasizes the foresight of its founders, and is in my opinion necessary, vital, crucial to our survival, for if the cities rule, our nation would disintegrate literally and figuratively.
The complaints about the qualities of Presidential candidates speaks as much to the Leftist agenda in the US as it does to the general decline in ethics, morality, and the rule of law. But I repeat myself.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
We haven't had a war with North Korea while following a peaceful policy. We haven't constructively engaged with them, but that's not going to happen any time soon under any footing. I call not having a war a success.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
It's certainly a threat to South Korea. I'm not at all sure about Japan, and it's not a threat to the US. Not even a Kim is dumb enough to start throwing nukes, because it would result in the annihilation of the North Korean government one way or another.
We haven't had that issue with Pakistan, and the Pakistanis are not friends of ours.
Why not? They're not going to do anything too suicidal.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
What do you mean? We are still at war. An armistice != peace agreement.
It takes two to make peace as it does to make war. As much as we havn't "constructively engaged" with them they haven't us.
Sure, legally we're at war. Who cares about legalities nowadays? Certainly not the US (and that's not a new thing either).
People outside North Korea haven't been killed in any significant numbers by North Koreans since the armistice. I'm calling that a success.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
And the military build up and nuclear arms? Chamberlain thought his talks with Germany were a success too. Can you be sure that NK won't start an offensive like what happened in 1950? Can you be sure that the US will always be around to help and protect SK and Japan?
Who cares about legalities nowadays?
You are right. non-proliferation is a failed policy and the UN is a toothless animal. What should happen with the next despot wanting/getting nukes?
I don't want war but sometimes it's necessary. I don't know the right answer for NK but the last 30-50 years of policy have failed. Yes congrats, the armistice was successful in reducing the number of killed as is the point of a cease fire when both sides gain no ground. Now we are in a situation where many more people can die to a madman willing and able to kill millions more because he was able to build up the tools to kill more people than before. Hooray appeasement.
Does Chamberlain policy work in the 21st century when that appeasement will amount to nuclear arms?
Chamberlain was dealing with a large industrial giant with a large population. We're talking about a small, nearly starving, country. There's a very large difference there. Germany was quite capable of being dangerous to Europe. North Korea is capable of being dangerous to South Korea and Japan (and China, but they're not going that way).
Another 1950 would inflict tremendous civilian casualties among the South, but it's not at all obvious the North could win. US help, which would be forthcoming, would be decisive. The Japanese Self-Defense Forces are powerful armed forces, and could easily get involved.
From China's point of view, the problem is that they like having a buffer state there, and such aggression out of it would render it difficult to maintain. They're the ones keeping North Korea afloat, and they have influence. They want to keep North Korea at peace.
Non-proliferation was a good goal, but it's failing, as might have been predicted. Advancing science means that it takes less and less resources to make a nuke. The first nuclear bomb program was very expensive, a major effort by the richest Allied nation along with scientists from all over Europe included. The Bush invasion of Iraq in 2003 drove in the idea that having nukes was a very good idea if you wanted to stay safe from the US.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
the world you would create is dangerous. much more so than if the us preemptively attacked nk. i am glad you are not in the position to make those decisions.
Pre-emptively attacking North Korea kills thousands and thousands of South Korean civilians right off the bat, considering the locations of North Korean artillery and Seoul. Under the present circumstances, it also risks war with China, which is not a good idea.
We kept the peace with much larger and more powerful countries. As long as North Korea doesn't launch an attack itself, which the Chinese don't want, and which would be disastrous for the North Korean government, we're doing well.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes