S. Korea Seeks Cyber Weapons to Target North Korea's Nukes

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://thediplomat.com/2014/02/s-korea-seeks-cyber-weapons-to-target-north-koreas-nukes/

By Zachary Keck
The Diplomat
February 21, 2014

South Korea is developing offensive cyber weapons to target North Korea’s 
nuclear weapons program, according to the country’s defense ministry said 
on Wednesday.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korea’s Defense Ministry outlined 
its long-term cyberpolicy to the parliament’s defense committee on 
Wednesday. The report stated that, “A strategic plan for the second phase 
calls for developing cybertools for offense like Stuxnet, a computer virus 
that damaged Iran’s uranium enrichment facility, to cripple North Korea’s 
missile and atomic facilities.” Yonhap also quoted an anonymous senior 
defense official as saying: “Once the second phase plan is established, 
the cyber command will carry out comprehensive cyberwarfare missions.”

These missions will be carried out under a new Cyber Defense Command that 
South Korea plans to establish in May. It will operate under the purview 
of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the report.

South Korea first established a Cyber Command in 2010 to guard against the 
threat posed by North Korea’s elite unit of hackers. So far, its aims have 
primarily been to protect vulnerable national networks from cyber attacks 
originating from North Korea, as well as to wage psychological warfare 
campaigns against Pyongyang. The decision to equip South Korea’s cyber 
warriors with the capabilities to attack North Korea’s nuclear and missile 
facilities therefore represents a dramatic escalation.

[...]

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