Each month, NK TechLab will publish a review of three interesting or important articles from the month that provide a window into the use of technology in North Korea. This month, crackdowns on information leakage and Chinese electronic products.
Rimjingang: Key Institutions Replace Chinese PCs with Domestic Products – Widespread Virus Infections and Information Leak Concerns
North Korea is responding to the widespread prevalence of computer viruses and worries about information leaks by exchanging PCs at Workers’ Party and People’s Committee offices, reports Rimjingang.
The report says a program began in mid-May to use PCs from the Pyongsong Electronics Factory that are based on the domestically developed Red Star OS. It says passwords are set so that only the authorized user can access the PC and some include fingerprint authentication.
Further, the new PCs don’t have support for USB memory sticks or SD memory cards and require the use of “Shield Program” security software to copy of move data.
Analysis: North Korea has been battling the unapproved flow of information on two fronts: unsanctioned information coming into the country, such as movies and TV shows, and information leaving the country, such as state documents and data. The majority of this is enabled by removeable media devices like SD cards and USB sticks, so the new PCs appear to tackle this problem by making it difficult or impossible to add or remove data from the devices.
Further, the use of higher security measures also appears to tighten access to files and networks that might contain sensitive information.
The only mystery is why it took so long for such security measures to be implemented. Back in 2019, state media reported on the development of by Achim Joint Venture Company of a computer that consisted of a screen, keyboard and mouse an no hard drive. Instead, it ran off a central server. The system was based on version 4.0 of the Red Star OS, which came out earlier that year.
Red Star was originally developed by the Korea Computer Center in 2001. Versions 2 and 3 have both been smuggled out of North Korea but to-date, version 4.0 does not appear to be publicly available. Despite its domestic roots, it appears from TV footage that Windows XP remains the most widely used operating system in North Korea. However, occasionally a computer running Red Star is spotted, such as this laptop below, seen on Korean Central Television in 2021.
DailyNK: N. Korea cracks down on intranet usage after document theft incident
State security officials examined intranet usage at government agencies and schools in North Pyongan province after a trading company official was caught with a memory card containing “government documents.” He had been intending to deliver them to his Chinese trading partners, reports Daily NK.
As a result, the officials checked email and intranet access logs and file viewing logs, said the report. They found “dozens of cases of repeated copying, use of unauthorized storage devices, and viewing of documents by unauthorized departments and individuals.”
Analysis: Like the previous article, this report shows that the state is struggling with information security particularly when it comes to information escaping the tightly-controlled intranet. The case reported by DailyNK wrapped up in late July, so is different from the one reported by Rimjingang.
The documents in question were not detailed but are likely related to trade. Whether they were officially state secrets or not, North Korea tries to prevent any leakage of any information to the outside world.
NK TechLab recently published the full text of North Korea’s State Secret Protection Law.
DailyNK: Chinese factories fuel North Korea’s underground electronics market
Up and down the Chinese border with North Korea, small electronics factories are starting up to supply the North Korean market, reports DailyNK. The factories are making devices to specifications from North Korean traders, who then smuggle them across the border for sale inside North Korea.
Such products include devices that cannot record, document readers limited to text files and products in particular colors, the report said. Brand names and identifying marks are stripped so they can get past North Korean authorities more easily, the report said.
Devices also come loaded with Chinese content. In the past, this might have been South Korean content, but now Chinese content is being used to both cause fewer issues with North Korean authorities and to spread Chinese culture and improve the country’s image, it said.
Analysis: Chinese companies make most of the consumer electronics products available in North Korea. Some are imported by North Korean trading companies, which sell them under their own brand names, and others are smuggled across the border and sold in markets. The latter can offered users more functionality, such as a radio that can freely tune into domestic and foreign stations, but North Korean law says foreign electronics needs to be inspected and such functions disabled before use. If not, users can get into trouble.
By specifying that problematic features are removed, the devices are much less likely to cause a problem for the owner should they be inspected by state authorities.
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