Posted on 04/19/2018 6:19:25 PM PDT by KingofZion
North Korea’s cyber army, long considered a midlevel security threat, is quietly morphing into one of the world’s most sophisticated and dangerous hacking machines.
Over the past 18 months, the nation’s fingerprints have appeared in an increasing number of cyberattacks, the skill level of its hackers has rapidly improved and their targets have become more worrisome, a Wall Street Journal examination of the program reveals. As recently as March, suspected North Korean hackers appear to have infiltrated Turkish banks and invaded computer systems in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, cybersecurity researchers say.
*** North Korea is cultivating elite hackers much like other countries train Olympic athletes, according to defectors and South Korean cyber and intelligence experts. Promising students are identified as young as 11 years old and funneled into special schools, where they are taught hacking and how to develop computer viruses. *** experts point to numerous signs that the hackers have become better. North Koreans are acting on security glitches in widely used software only days after the vulnerabilities first appear, and crafting malicious code so advanced it isn’t detected by antivirus programs, they say. When software or security firms plug holes, the hackers are adapting within days or weeks, fine-tuning their malware much as Apple Inc. would release an update to the iPhone’s operating system.
Many North Korean hackers are using perfect English or embedding other languages into coding to make it appear hacks came from other countries, the researchers have concluded. And they are earning a reputation as innovators at breaking into smartphones, hiding malware in Bible apps or using Facebook Inc. to help infect targets.
“The whole world needs to take notice,” says John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye, who now ranks North Korea among the world’s mature hacking operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
I don’t play with the apps on Facebook.
They got so good because they downloaded the compromised NSA hacking programs that were made publicly available.
On line privacy and security is an illusion. Once something exists in your personal or work computer, phone or any electrical device or that information is on other peoples devices including the government, if someone deems it critically important to know, it can be found and stolen. Sophisticated hackers are demonstrating their ability to hack even the most “secure” and protected “systems”. Its no joke. Imagine if they are able to hack the military’s nuclear codes or communications. Imagine the US losing control of its nuclear weaponry, or have it launched and targeted with the ultimate in malware. Or simply identifying the location of every sub and ship at sea.
You mean deep state hackers?
They can’t afford computers, so instead use abaci (abacuses?), so it gives them really good skills.
Like doing calculus without a calculator.
Tough to hack an airgapped computer under the control of a single person in a secure facility occupied by one person.
What a flaming mystery. Let’s see, China has been relentlessly developing hacking and IP theft horsepower resources for about 20 years. Think they might be fairly good at it by now? Then we have N. Korea which has emulated China in one form or another for over 60 years. So, the proposition is to buy 100 computers and some routers at a comparative cost of a tailfin on one of their missiles that they have developed either on their own or with the indirect help of the Clintons. Or the computers are free from their Chinese buddies. Then they hire 100 compu-geeks at 35 cents an hour to pound out code and portal probes.
It’s so damned complicated, no wonder it has taken our government 15 years to figure it out. Where’s the environmental impact report?
They wear tee-shirts that say “will hack for food.”
Kim jong-un fed them. In North Korea, if you’re getting food, you toe the line and improve quickly or it’s back to tree bark soup and digging for grubs.
Damn pay wall. Crossed WSJ off my list a long time ago.
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