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N. Korea Suspected of Cyber Attacks
Kim Jong Il has been spending some time at his computer, it seems: North Korea is suspected of launching a widespread cyber attack that began on July 4 and knocked out the websites of the Treasury Department, the Secret Service, the Transportation Department, and other U.S. agencies. South Korean government sites also came under attack, as did several commercial sites including The Washington Post. According to the Associated Press, “South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the nation's main spy agency, told a group of South Korean lawmakers Wednesday it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South were behind the attacks.”
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Cyber attacks could be as, if not more, dangerous than a dirty bomb. This is an important story.
Is it just me, or is anyone else having trouble with a bunch of sites all of the sudden? I can't load nytimes, cnn, msnbc, huffpo, ebay, senate.gov, weather, gizmodo and gmail are SLOW.
I thought it might be my connection, BUT tdb, wapo, drudge, and google load without a problem.
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ says it's just me.
Buy Apple stock! PCs will be hosed...
As a neo-con... I say the safest thing to do is to blame Obama, his teleprompter, and the stimulus plan.
"""South Korea's National Intelligence Service, the nation's main spy agency, told a group of South Korean lawmakers Wednesday it believes that North Korea or North Korean sympathizers in the South were behind the attacks"""
How in the hell can there be N Korean sympathizers?!?
Must be some good drugs in SE Asian still! Whatever happened to the guy who was going to be the cyber security czar, whatever he was, then they found one of his workers embezzling or whatever and then we heard nothing! Is someone doing something up there?
Cyber attacks are soooo scary. Nothing could do more damage. Our banking system and everything else depends on computers.Of course they have back-up files, but it could cause havoc.
It seems pretty clear to me that the culprit behind this is the Chinese and they are creating the illusion that its the North Koreans to in essence take down two birds with one stone. Fortunately we have a strong President who won't take any crap. The Somali pirate episode should have been a warning for our enemies. They didn't take the hint and they will pay the price. Obama is much tougher than people think he is.
I agree with you... but having a handfull of backwater pirates killed was the obvious thing to do. Hell, I even think the shrub would have had it done. What made it so 'critical' was the GOP assumption that he wouldn't do anything about it.
But that is a MUCH different scenario than this one... not even comparable.
The reason its not that different was Obama's APPROACH to the Somali situation. He made sure first that everyone was on the same page, and then stepped out of the way and let our brave men and women do what they do best. Tactically he handled the situation perfectly.
I don't think its a coincidence that on the same day we are hearing about these cyber attacks we're also hearing about this:
http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/08/investigators-smuggle-live-bomb/< br />
The difference between Obama and Dubya is that Barack MEANS IT when he says he won't let our enemies win.
Two words to describe Obama: Calm and PREPARED.
President Obama has already shown me with the drone attack within his first few days in office and this federal building test/drill that he means business, and that he is going to do whatever he can to keep us safe offensively rather than always being on the defensive side of things which is what happened with 9/11.
Richard Clarke has really been on the money with his predictions and I'm glad he supported Barack during the election. Just happy to know that President Obama (who I worked hard for during the election) is listening to the right people. Bush royally screwed us going into Iraq. We should never have taken our eye off the ball with Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And another thing...(Forgive this tangent)...the conservative CNBC economic class need to stop all their pro-China/pro-Russia rhetoric. They are our real threats. Maria Bartiromo is getting on my nerves with all of her ridiculous interviews about how we should listen to Russia and China and their new currency demands. No we shouldn't. We're Americans. They would be very happy to see our country fail and all the attention we give it just gives credence to their threats. I'm glad Obama is working hard to make sure we beat them. Many people in our country don't understand what is actually at stake. This isn't about being liberal or conservative. We are ALL red white and blue. Bush's mistake was forgetting that fact.
The scale of the cyber threat is much greater than that of the Somali pirate episode obviously. But the take away isn't any different at all.
You mess with America we will gather the facts/intelligence to see who is behind it and then we'll walk softly and carry a big stick to the back of the culprits head. Kim Jong Il is sick man. A crazy man. But ineffective. The Chinese are the ones with the capability to do this. And I feel pretty confident that our patriots working for the CIA and NSA know this.
Obama is a Senator from Chicago. He knows you need to bring a gun to a knife fight.
I with you.
Obama needs to stop being such a wimp in his dealings with North Korea. His passive response to the missile threats against Japan and Hawaii were clearly wimpy, but no real damage resulted. His wimpy response to the kidnapping of two American reporters was weak. Now a cyber-attack on the US by North Korea is occurring. Obama's silence and lack of response to this cyber attack just continues his pattern of weak and passive responses.
Kidnapping of 2 American reporters? That never happened.
They were IN N. Korea when they were snatched. They knew what could happen... and it ended up happening. THEY were in the wrong... and they were not kidnapped.
I'll not go on for the simple fact that I think you're on the DB payroll to rabble-rouse.
Do go on. Were you about to claim that the cyber attacks aren't happening? And the missile "tests" fired in the direction of Japan and Hawaii never happened?
The only thing that isn't happening is a robust response by the Obama administration to the cyber attacks on America by the North Koreans.
JDK-JDK
I think you are on shaky ground when you go with the DPRK's account of events. That government has been known to kidnap foreign nationals on their home soil.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_Japanese
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korean_abductions_of_South_Koreans
(here's the most scholarly link)
http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/archives/109/shi042706.pdf
I'm not saying you're incorrect, just that it's an open question.
Plant,
-"robust" coming from a neocon usually means "hasty and without reflection".
-Just because our President has not verbally responded to this specific event (which he will, I reckon, after he has the facts) doesn't mean that counter-measures aren't in place and that investigations haven't begun.
rap
Its odd that you would want a response that is hasty and without reflection.
Wouldn't it be better to have a response that is measured and commensurate?
[b]The Obama administration seems to be paralyzed.....is it too much to ask that they respond in some way to the North Korean cyber-attacks on the US?[/b]
Don't put your words into my mouth.
Just because you can't see them move doesn't mean they are paralyzed.
In fact, because you don't look for anything positive,
I'd say it increases the odds that OUR MAN is doing something brilliant!
Those ARE your words, rap.
You defined: "robust" as "hasty and without reflection".
You made up the definition in your head, and you typed it with your fingers, and it appears in your post.
You are dishonestly trying it to attribute it to me, but you thought it up and you wrote it down. Man up and take responsibility for your own thoughts and your own writing, dude.
Cheers!
your childish word games would not even work on a member of your ideology's cult.
I stand by my attribution to the definition of robust that you and your Rovian ilk, the neocons who take as a working definition.
Don't give up, there is still time to fix education for the next generation. Your mistakes need not be repeated. We progressives shall break the cycle of your DPRK-esque brainwashing.
White is white, black is black, A=A, and neo-cons will be free when you learn that we are not your enemy, but liberators from your willful ignorance
God bless.
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Wow. There are actually North Korean sympathizers?
Well, all North Koreans can't be demented.
And money always talks for some folks, even skilled techo-savvy ones.
ANd, given that it is North Korea, their crew of hackers might be working under duress. Like the threat of having one's family starve.
The cyber-hackers are probably relatively priveledged and well-fed good loyal communists in the Army or intelligence agencies in North Korea. The North Korean Intelligence agencies are know to engage in counterfitting, kidnapping, illegal export of nuclear technology to Syria, etc. Its no surprise their intelligence agencies would also engage in cyber attacks.
When are we going to stop playing games with "SHORTY" this Guy is a real threat.This is The I told you so Cheney is hoping for.We need to be more aggresive with them just think how peaceful it would be without him biting at our ankle.President Obama should not take it so lightly....!
War I Say!!! WAR, WAR, and MORE WAR!!!
You sound like the same people that wanted to "bomb, bomb, bomb" Iran just a few months ago. Now after the Iran elections, you all see that there are "real" people in these countries, many who admire democracy.
Just attacking countries is not the answer...and I don't think President Obama is taking North Korea "lightly".
I think we should send Plantagenet over and let he/she/it sweep up the mess.
Kim Jong Il wants his diaper changed again.
Just what exactly is Obama to do? Pinch his tiny little Korean @$$ with a nuke? This is a real sticky wicket. Hey, we've got some great American hackers in this country...set them lose on the Korean Treasury server. Kim Dong Poo won't have a dime to spend on missiles. I think we under utilize our mob guys in the big house as well....
We should make that a condition of their parole.
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Do It Charles!
DO IT!!!
KIM JONG ILL has GOT to be TAKEN OUT!!!
SLAM that little PISSANT!!!!!
He is an ALCOHOLIC , SADISTIC EGO-MANIAC!!
DO IT CHARLES!!!!!!!!!
Cyber byber. A 14 year old hacker in Ukraine could do this too. What are we supposed to do: ask adversaries to please not fiddle with our computers? We should be thankful for the cyber attack: it provides us with the opportunity to strength our computer defenses and not rely on the good will of others.
As for launching a missile in the mere direction or vicinity of Japan or Hawaii: I haven't checked the map lately, but are there a lot of other locations that could have been selected? Like, over China?
Thank you.
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