north korea

South Korea has accused North Korea of launching a recent cyberattack that hit tens of thousands of PCs.

A spokesman for South Korea's Internet agency said today that six computers in North Korea were identified as the source of the attack, according to The Guardian. Those computers used more than 1,000 IP addresses from across the world to infect 48,000 PCs and servers at South Korean banks and broadcasting stations.

The spokesman told the Associated Press that the attack mimicked past hacking attempts by North Korea and pointed the finger at an espionage agency run by the military. … Read more

The city of Yokohama in Japan has had to offer up some quick apologies to its nearly 42,000 followers for erroneously tweeting that North Korea had launched a missile at its homeland.

Earlier today, the Crisis Management Office Affairs Bureau for Yokohama tweeted that North Korea had launched a missile at Japan. The tweet stayed up for 20 minutes before being taken down and replaced with an apology from the city, saying that its tweet was sent out in error.

Yokohama acknowledged the error on its Web site (Google Translate), saying it created the tweet in advance to inform … Read more

North Korea appears currently to be banging the (conun)drum for world instability.

Its apparent enmity to all things American has recently been pierced by such luminaries as Google's Eric Schmidt and the slightly noodly Dennis Rodman.

You might be tickled or troubled by the fact that today, North Korea's Twitter and Flickr accounts were mercilessly invaded by Anonymous.

My emotions, on the other hand, have been moved by the fact that an NFL star is encouraging Kim Jong-un's missiles to be targeted at New England.

There is no known additional antipathy on behalf of North Korea'… Read more

Some things are hard to believe.

Is it possible that "Dancing With The Stars" is still on television? Is it possible that Victoria's Secret is creating lingerie for tweens? And how likely is it that Dennis Rodman really is a better friend to Kim Jong-un than is Eric Schmidt?

Actually, talking of North Korea, how likely is it that the country has a myriad of hovercraft, hovering in readiness to invade, say, North Carolina?

I wonder only because the country's Central News Agency released a photograph this week that showed many hovercraft in action.

Yet now … Read more

Less than a month after allowing foreign visitors to access 3G wireless networks, North Korea has reportedly severed tourists' connection to the mobile Internet.

The reclusive country announced last month that it would soon relax restrictions on visitors' access to the Internet via mobile devices within its borders, rules that long required visitors to leave their handsets at the border or airport when entering to the country. Residents were expected to have access to certain voice and text services on the 3G network, but not the mobile Internet.

Koryolink, a 3G mobile provider partially owned by the North Korean government, … Read more

South Korea apparently still has a mystery on its hands. Who launched a cyberattack against several of its banks and broadcasters this week?

Regulators for the country initially pointed the finger at China, saying that the attacks originated from a Chinese IP address. But they admitted today that they jumped the gun.

The IP address used in the attack was actually traced to one of the banks hit on Wednesday. South Korea's NongHyup Bank had been using the address as a virtual one for its internal network, according to Reuters. By coincidence, that address matched one registered in China.… Read more

Even though North Korea is known to have extremely limited Internet service, the Web-based bittorrent tracker The Pirate Bay announced today that it relocated to this closed-off and highly censored country.

"The Pirate Bay has been hunted in many countries around the world. Not for illegal activities but being persecuted for beliefs of freedom of information. Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the movement, as well as the history of the internets," The Pirate Bay wrote in a blog post. "Today we can reveal that we have been invited by the leader of … Read more

I fear that North Korea is about to learn what the rest of us have been forced to swallow for the last few years.

Once technology gets its hooks into you, you have no idea how much you'll change.

Not a few weeks ago, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made what was then termed a private visit to Kim-Jong-un's unusual fiefdom.

Perhaps he was allowed in because the powers-that-be thought they could get a fine price on a few Chromebook Pixel laptops.

Perhaps the "Supreme Leader" himself wanted to improve his Google results and attempt to confirm … Read more

Just one month after North Korea relaxed restrictions on tourists' cell phone use, the country will soon allow foreigners to access the Internet via mobile devices.

3G service will be operational within the country's borders by March 1, but North Koreans won't have access to the mobile Internet, according to the Associated Press. Koryolink, a 3G mobile provider partially owned by the North Korean government, on Friday began informing foreigners living in Pyongyang that they will soon be able to subscribe to monthly data plans.

The move comes a few weeks after North Korea announced it would allow foreign visitors to use cell phones within the country, … Read more