NORTH KOREA’S CYBER ATTACK

Terror Cases and Cyber Capabilities and Current State of Affairs of North Korea’s Cyber Terror Force

Republic of Korea is an IT powerhouse where smartphone use is universal and Koreans can enjoy fast internet anywhere in Korea. Such entrenchment of the smart phone in daily life has aided the country’s democratic development such as advancing freedom of speech and human rights but the high dependence on information technology has also introduced new threats. One of these threats is none other than North Korea’s cyber terrorism. So far, the most notable North Korean cyber terror attacks are 7.7 Distributed Denial of Service(DDoS) Attack(2009), Nonghyup Bank Network Hack(2011), and JoongAng Daily Website Cyber Attack(2012). North Korea has con-ducted countless cyber terror attacks against Republic of Korea and the attacks were estimated to have caused over 1 trillion won of damage. Currently, North Korea is offering curriculum on cyber terrorism in academic institutions such as Kim Il Political Military University, Kim Chaek University of Technology, Pyongyang Computer Technology University and it has been estimated that it employs around 6,800 specialists to bring chaos to the international community through utilization of cyber space. Furthermore, North Korea is considered the world s fourth most powerful nation in cyber warfare only behind the United States, China, and Russia, thus emerging yet as a new threat to the world. Experts identify North Korea’s unchecked expansion of cyber terror force as a serious threat that can bring crisis to Northeast Asia. Therefore, the international community must pay attention to not only North Korea’s nuclear test and missile development but also its rapidly growing cyber terror force.