Author: Martyn Williams

  • Obama speaks on hacking during State of the Union

    Obama speaks on hacking during State of the Union

    North Korea didn’t get a direct mention during President Obama’s State of the Union address on January 20, but Obama did take on the issue of computer hacking — something that has been put on the U.S. agenda since the November 2014 attack on Sony Pictures. The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the action and…

  • Balloon launch of “The Interview” DVDs to go ahead

    Balloon launch of “The Interview” DVDs to go ahead

    A U.S.-based group says a launch it is sponsoring of balloons carrying copies of the Sony Pictures movie “The Interview” into North Korea will go ahead, despite threats against it by the North Korean government. The Human Rights Foundation said on Monday that the launch, performed by the group Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), would take place sometime this…

  • TV Review: Hidden State: Inside North Korea

    TV Review: Hidden State: Inside North Korea

    Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” takes on North Korea in its latest episode, scheduled for broadcast on Al Jazeera America on January 19, 2015, at 9pm ET. The 30-minute program called “Hidden State: Inside North Korea,” is based around a 2014 reporting trip to the country by Teresa Bo. Bo is a former Latin American correspondent…

  • NSA had access to North Korean computer network, says report

    NSA had access to North Korean computer network, says report

    The U.S. National Security Agency had access to internal North Korean computer networks before the attack on Sony Pictures, according to a report by The New York Times. That access enabled the U.S. to conclude, with confidence, that North Korea was responsible for the hack on Sony. The report quotes interviews with former U.S. and foreign officials, computer experts briefed…

  • KCTV launches HD satellite broadcasts

    KCTV launches HD satellite broadcasts

    Korean Central Television, North Korea’s main national television station, has begun high-definition broadcasting. The TV station has been available in standard definition via the Thaicom satellite for more than 15 years, and earlier in January a second high-definition feed of the TV station appeared.   The technical parameters of the new broadcast are as follows: 3696MHz, horizontally polarized, 4167…

  • Air Koryo’s Facebook page hacked

    Air Koryo’s Facebook page hacked

    Hackers have hit a Facebook page for North Korean airline Air Koryo replacing it with messages in support of Islamic State militants and against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The page shot to fame earlier in the year when it began replying to user comments and questions about trips to North Korea. It claimed to be…

  • US sanctions North Korea for Sony hack

    US sanctions North Korea for Sony hack

    The U.S. government has announced additional sanctions on North Korea as a result of the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures. The sanctions are the first official U.S. response to the attack, for which the investigation continues but North Korea has already been named responsible by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In announcing the measures, President Obama said…

  • Computer science in the DPRK

    Will Scott, the American that spent a semester teaching computer science at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, spoke about his experiences this week at the Chaos Computer Club’s annual conference in Hamburg. Scott, who has just returned from the second trip to PUST, went into detail on the IT environment at the university,…

  • State Dept. remains sure on DPRK involvement in Sony hack

    State Dept. remains sure on DPRK involvement in Sony hack

    The State Department said Monday that it remains confident in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s conclusion that North Korea was responsible for the cyber attack on Sony — despite a growing number of voices saying that might not be the case. There has been some skepticism about North Korea’s involvement since the first reports earlier…

  • Red Star 3.0 Desktop – The install

    Red Star 3.0 Desktop – The install

    The operating system is being offered as a 2.6 gigabyte ISO file, which means it will look like a CD or DVD install disc to most modern operating systems. The operating system can be directly installed from the ISO file and requires about 10 gigabytes of disc space. I installed mine inside a Virtual Machine…