07.08.09
The Daily Delusion: What did you do in the cyberwar, Daddy?
Updated
Nothing, kid. I always miss them.
Did your computer slow down on the Internet yesterday, Daddy?
I always come across slow websites, kid. When I went to log onto the Department of Homeland Security’s website, my MSN browser sent me to Bing instead. Twice. The third time was OK, though.
And my computer crashes at least once a day. I can never tell if it’s North Korean cybermen, China or just me.
And everyone knows you just can’t call up reporters from the New York Times and say stupid mostly made-up shit to them and get it into print, right!?
From yesterday.
And today:
[North Korean Cyberwar] Hits US and South Korean websites.
Now, if you don’t have a sense of humor at the absurd nature of this, you’re going to hurt yourself jumping all over the story.
We just returned from an emergency meeting in Seoul at the Cyber Terror Response Center. Team leader Chang Seok-hwa briefed us that North Korea is stepping up its attacks, probably in advance of a massive physical attack that will roll across the DMZ. South Korea’s military is now implementing the first part of its plan to shut down the country’s major Internet pipelines in order to protect the country from North Korea’s cyber military might. More news as I get it.
Spoiler alert: The above clip is a ‘honeypot,’ installed by one of DD’s pals. Can you guess who it belongs to?
“Cyberattacks that have crippled the Web sites of several major American and South Korean government agencies since the July 4th holiday weekend appear to have been launched by a hostile group or government, [said] South Korea’s main government spy agency said on Wednesday,” reported the Times.
“The opposition Democratic Party accused the spy agency of spreading unsubstantiated rumors to whip up support for a new anti-terrorism bill that would give it more power.”
As usual, in cyberwar, a central plank of critical thinking goes missing. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and substantive argument in support. Or else they’re just more of the usual squawk about s— happening on the Net, the daily crap that everyone must deal with, regardless of who did it or point of origin.
You haff made [a website] run slow. Now I am here to upgrade you.
North Korean ‘cyberattack’ linked to
List of sites ‘attacked’ in the cyberwar — here, at Panda.
List of sites to be attacked, extracted from new version of MyDoom virus — here.
In another manner of speaking, that’s close enough for government work. And it indicates that just about anyone, or any group, could have done this with relative ease, rewriting computer viruses to do your bidding being not much of a feat of arms. The really good news is that if it actually is a North Korean operation (and I have my doubts), then it is the very definition of pathetic. If it’s a usual hacker/virus-writer doing something NK sympathetic and wishing to show how the Great Satan can be struck, it’s also not much to get excited over.
Additionally, it’s worth noting that DD visits dhs.gov and voanews.gov regularly and wouldn’t have known there was a ‘cyberattack’ if the newsmedia hadn’t informed him. And that’s something a Fox News piece also reported: ” … [And] yet the Pentagon wasn’t informed about the attacks until Wednesday — by hearing about it from the media.”
This raises the philosophical question: What happens when you launch a cyberwar and can’t get the newsmedia to notice?
“DHS.gov is just one of the sites slowed down by last weekend’s attack from North Korea, or the MyDoom virus, or both, or possibly neither… ” reads a recent piece from Popular Science.
More DD quote:
“You think this is North Korea? That’s kinda pathetic on their part … They have nuclear weapons, and they choose to attack by making websites slower? If there hadn’t been news stories, would anyone have noticed? Probably not.”
And some older perspective on cyberwar here.
If only we had that electromagnetic pulse bomb now we could use it to stop that cyberwar
“South Korean military officials are developing an electromagnetic pulse bomb designed to incapacitate electronic equipment, a source says,” informs UPI.
“Citing an unnamed military source, Chosun Ilbo reported Wednesday Seoul’s EMP bomb could be used to neutralize missile-guidance systems or other equipment within a 330-foot radius of its detonation …”
Remember, in this version of the electromagnetic pulse bomb story, it’s OUR weapon that’s about to reach maturation, not the terrorist dream (or North Korea or Iran’s) which will return the US, in one mighty blow, to the time of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.
See here.
The newspaper said the United States is developing an EMP bomb that could knock out electronic equipment within 4.2 miles of its impact point.
The South Korean agency is also working on a defense against EMP waves …