Office 121

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Office 121 is the name of an authority in North Korea that wages cyber warfare under the term “secret war”, which is also known in North Korea . The agency, founded in 1998, is part of the “Office for General Enlightenment”, an espionage department of the military, which focuses on hidden actions at home and abroad.

Goal setting

According to analyzes by the US Department of Defense , North Korea is conducting offensive operations in cyberspace . They are seen as an effective and inexpensive method to compensate for possible inferiority in classic military areas. The actions are directed primarily against South Korea, they are supposed to cause public disruption there. They also want to get access to secret information. The United States Department of Defense has observed several cyberattacks since 2009 in which North Korea is suspected to be the culprit.

staff

According to a report by Reuters news agency , the country's most talented computer experts work in the office. A defected spy has reported that around 1,800 specialists are employed in the office. Many of the hackers are graduates from Pyongyang Automation University . New employees are subject to a strict selection process and are sometimes recruited at the age of 17. The bureau's staff are among the highest paid people in the state. Disguised as employees of North Korean trading houses, some of them are stationed abroad, while the families who stayed at home enjoy numerous privileges. In January 2015 it was announced that the number of employees in the office would be increased to 6,000 by the end of the year.

activities

In 2013, South Korea was the target of a major cyber attack that hacked over 30,000 personal computers. The main targets were banks, media companies and authorities as well as the office of the president. US authorities assume that the authorship came from North Korea. It is also believed that North Korea spread a malicious virus in thousands of smartphones in South Korea in the same year .

The global public became aware of North Korea's offensive cyber activities in December 2014 when Sony Pictures temporarily stopped the theatrical release of the film The Interview in the USA, in which North Korean head of state Kim Jong-un is parodied. Sony Pictures' computers were previously the target of a hacker attack that stole internal data, including sensitive personal information. The hackers also left threatening messages on the systems. US security experts suspect that Office 121 carried out the hacking attack. However, a spokesman on North Korean television stated that his country was not responsible for the hacking attack. Nonetheless, the speaker recognized the attack as a just act. However, John McAfee , the founder of the computer security company McAfee , stated in an interview with the International Business Times that he was in contact with the hackers in the attack on Sony, who knew their names and could guarantee that North Korea was not responsible for the hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment is responsible.

The malware WannaCry , which infected more than 250,000 computers with Windows operating systems in March 2017 , is also suspected to be a North Korean hacker attack.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Around 1800 cyber warriors: Kim breeds his mysterious army of hackers in "Office 121" . In: Focus Online . December 4, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ a b c In North Korea, hackers are a handpicked, pampered elite . Reuters . December 5, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  3. ↑ Did North Korea's notorious Unit 121 cyber army hack Sony Pictures? . In: The Guardian . December 2, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  4. ^ John Pike: North Korean Intelligence Agencies . Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  5. ^ A b United States Department of Defense: Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2013 . Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved January 26, 2015. p. 11
  6. ↑ North Korea's hacker forge is launching a cyber attack . Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . December 21, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  7. ^ White House viewing Sony hack as national security threat . In: CNN , WWLP 22 News, December 19, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015. 
  8. ↑ North Korea doubles its Internet soldiers , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 6, 2015. Accessed January 26, 2015. 
  9. ↑ a b Jack Cloherty: Sony Hack Believed to Be Routed Through Infected Computers Overseas . abc news. December 17, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  10. ↑ David Gilbert, Gareth Platt: John McAfee: 'I know who hacked Sony Pictures - and it wasn't North Korea' . International Business Times. January 15, 2015. Accessed January 30, 2015.
  11. ↑ Fabian A. Scherschel: WannaCry: Sony Pictures hackers from North Korea under suspicion . heise online. Retrieved October 18, 2017.