THE NEW WAR

July 8, 2009 gabemac

Today I received this email from one of my sources. It talks about the cyber attacks upon South Korea and the U.S. that have been happening the last couple of days. These cyber attacks are the first signs of attacks. Back when Russia and Georgia had their invasions last year I reported on how the cyber attacks had started first. This is no joke people. The internet is a force. A Force to be reckoned with because of the exchange of information between people and networks. However once that communication is down, we become disconnected and have to return to old fashion means of communications. I ask how many of you besides Jeff Pulver know how to ham radio? In any case, have a watchful eye on this development. E-MAIL:

North Korea* is suspected in a massive state-sponsored cyber attack that targeted sites in South Korea And the United States over the past 24 hours. The attack is a Distributed Denial Of Service (DDOS) attack. Shadowserver DDOS Stats

http://www.shadowserver.org/wiki/pmwiki.php/Stats/DDoSCharts show yesterday’s activity to be very significant.

The Internet Storm Center has NOT raised the Internet Threat level from Green.

Some of us may be working among these clients (see target list below). It is not clear whether this is an isolated effort or the prelude to more aggressive activities to come.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/07/08/ST2009070801296.html

*Analysts differ in opinion as to whether North Korea has the capability to have executed this cyber attack alone. Speculation is that collaborators may include China, Iran and possibly rogue hackers from Russia, however no evidence supports this yet.

North Korea has been operating an advanced cyber-warfare training capability out of what is now called Pyongyang College, formerly Kim Il Military Academy and Mirim College. They have been cited in numerous references as producing 100 cyber-war experts a year for many years now. Some estimates have been higher. It has been suggested by some pundits that these reports are South Korean propaganda to increase foreign aid … but current assessments are that the information is accurate about a cyber-war curriculum as well as 100 graduates a year (confidence: High). This appears to be the first exercise of this capability on a large scale.

The Attack Site (Target) list identified is:

[공격 사이트 리스트] [Attack site list – embedded in the malware]

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