Information Warfare: December 5, 2002

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There is considerable popular unrest in South Korea over the recent acquittal of two American soldiers who were involved in a traffic accident that left two Korean teenagers dead. As a result of this, some South Korean hackers sought to attack the White House web page. Per capita, South Korea has the highest use of high speed Internet links. South Korean hackers are among the most skilled, and numerous, in the world. A disproportionate amount of Internet hacking can be traced back to South Korea because of this. But the attack on the White House servers failed. The South Korean attackers noted that the While House cyber defenses were quite advanced and effective. This will no doubt spur other South Korean hackers to find a way to breach the White House defenses. On the bright side, these attacks are being done openly, for publicity purposes, by hackers who, if war came, would largely be on our side. Think of it as a realistic training exercise with the attackers being very skilled and motivated.