The period before and during this year’s Nuclear Security Summit, which will see many of the world’s most powerful political leaders gather in South Korea later this year, is a prime target for cyber attacks from a North Korea keen to solidify the Kim Jong Eun system, two top domestic experts have warned.
Researcher Yoo Dong Ryul of the Police Science Institute and North Korean Studies Prof. Cho Young Ki of Korea University made the assertion in documentation released for the ‘Cyberspace and National Security’ seminar yesterday.
“Given that this year sees the Nuclear Security Summit and the general and presidential elections, and that the pro-North Korea faction has internally promulgated the construction of a strong and prosperous unified nation, actions harmful to national security need to be watched more than ever,” they asserted.
The two men were heavily critical of official efforts to date, saying, “The South Korean government established its ‘National Cyber Security Master Plan’ in August, 2011 following the ‘March 3rd DDoS Attacks’ and ‘April Nonghyup Network Neutralization Incident’; however, in terms of holding back the actions of North Korea and pro-North Korea groups in the name of communist revolution, this was wholly inadequate.”
“South Korea needs to establish a temporary Cyber Task Force temporarily to proactively prepare a response to such attacks,” they added.
“It became clear after the April 2011 Nonghyup network hacking and July’s Wangjaesan spy ring incident that cyberspace was being used as a means of communication between spies. The legal and institutional resources to investigate and respond are severely lacking,” they added, moving on to advocate the creation of a Cyber National Security Law to help the nation respond.
In particular, they concluded, “There needs to be a PR blitz to get public opinion on side regarding new laws and amendments and national PR activity to form common grounds and block the cyber security threat. They should establish an advertising mechanism to quickly inform people of the seriousness of cyber security harm.”
