Category: Telecommunications

  • Thousands more DPRK-related website account details published

    Thousands more DPRK-related website account details published

    The personal details of thousands of users of three North Korean-related websites have been published by hackers. The details include names, email addresses, user names and in some cases addresses and phone numbers of people to the three sites: the Japan-based Choson Sinbo (????, ????) newspaper, the China-based Ryomyong (??) site and the U.S.-based Korea American National Coordinating…

  • DPRK reconfigures its Internet connection

    DPRK reconfigures its Internet connection

    Hot on the heels of a series of attacks that have seen its Internet connectivity severely disrupted, the DPRK appears to be adding an additional route through which it links to the global Internet. The new link began appearing in Internet addressing tables on Monday and connects from Star, the country’s sole Internet service provider,…

  • Uriminzokkiri restoring after hack

    Uriminzokkiri restoring after hack

    This week’s hack of the Uriminzokkiri website certainly raised the bar in the cyber battle currently playing out online. It marked the first time in the current round of attacks that anyone had managed to break in and deface a North Korean website. Over the last couple of weeks, several sites have been taken offline…

  • More attacks pledged on North Korean websites

    People who apparently took part in this weekend’s denial of service attacks against several major North Korean websites have promised there’s more to come. The attacks hit sites including KCNA, Voice of Korea, the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Nations and Air Koryo. They also targeted the Korean Friendship Association’s site although I wasn’t…

  • The North-South air traffic control link

    The North-South air traffic control link

    After this week’s decision by North Korea to stop answering a military hotline between border control posts at the Kaesong Industrial Zone, there remains just one known link through which North and South Koreans can still directly speak: an air traffic control connection between Seoul and Pyongyang. The connection, a vital safety link for air…

  • #OpNorthKorea brings more attacks on DPRK websites

    #OpNorthKorea brings more attacks on DPRK websites

    A new round of attacks against North Korean websites began Saturday, causing several to become unavailable. The attacks appear to be part of a loosely coordinated effort by hackers to target North Korean sites after the country’s state-run media said relations with South Korea were “at a state of war.” As of 3pm Korean time…

  • Mobile Internet service reportedly stopped for tourists

    Mobile Internet service reportedly stopped for tourists

    Well, that didn’t last for long. Short-term tourists entering the DPRK can no longer get mobile Internet service, according to Koryo Tours. “3G access is no longer available for tourists to the DPRK. Sim cards can still be purchased to make international calls but no internet access is available,” the Beijing-based North Korean tourism specialist…

  • Voice of Korea dumps own player, adopts Flash

    The website of Voice of Korea, the DPRK’s international shortwave radio service, has dumped its proprietary software player. The site previously required use of the player by users to hear its audio clips posted online (see, right), but that’s not now the case. Users can now listen with Flash, and that opens the audio up…

  • North Korea: The Podcast

    North Korea: The Podcast

    Uriminzokkiri, the Chinese-based website that carries most of North Korea’s official propaganda output, has started a podcast and it’s available through Apple’s iTunes. The podcast is advertised on the front page of the website with a link that jumps to an Apple iTunes page. The page currently carries ten episodes of the podcast, which is…

  • Malware that hit South Korea wasn’t so sophisticated

    A cyber attack on three of South Korea’s major broadcasters and several of its major banks appears to have been caused by a relatively unsophisticated piece of software, security researchers said Wednesday. [Story updated, see below] The attacks, which began at around 2pm local time on Wednesday (5:00 UTC) left desktop and laptop computers unable…