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| North Korea’s Internet is going suspiciously haywire | North Korea’s Internet is going suspiciously haywire |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| North Korea's shaky Internet infrastructure has been suffering from widespread outages this week, North Korea watchers said, who added that the network failures were highly unusual, even for the reclusive nation. | |
| The connectivity problems are coming just days after President Obama warned of a "proportional response" to North Korea, which the U.S. government says is responsible for the major cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment's network. It's not yet known whether the United States is responsible for the downtime. But according to Dyn Research, North Korea's Internet is currently showing intense instability. | |
| North Korea Tech has more: | North Korea Tech has more: |
| “I haven’t seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in KP before,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research. “Usually there are isolated blips, not continuous connectivity problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are absorbing some sort of attack presently.” | “I haven’t seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in KP before,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research. “Usually there are isolated blips, not continuous connectivity problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are absorbing some sort of attack presently.” |
| “I haven’t seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in KP before,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research. “Usually there are isolated blips, not continuous connectivity problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are absorbing some sort of attack presently.” | “I haven’t seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in KP before,” said Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Dyn Research. “Usually there are isolated blips, not continuous connectivity problems. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are absorbing some sort of attack presently.” |
| Is this an attack? The chances aren't zero, considering that the few North Koreans who can actually get online tend to be government and military officials. Even if the outages are the result of somebody's deliberate act, however, proving that the United States did it would be difficult. | Is this an attack? The chances aren't zero, considering that the few North Koreans who can actually get online tend to be government and military officials. Even if the outages are the result of somebody's deliberate act, however, proving that the United States did it would be difficult. |
| In a press briefing Monday, a State Department official wouldn't comment on "operational details about the possible response options" but did say, somewhat cryptically, that "some will be seen, some may not be seen." | In a press briefing Monday, a State Department official wouldn't comment on "operational details about the possible response options" but did say, somewhat cryptically, that "some will be seen, some may not be seen." |
| There are other questions, too. When one country wants to bomb another but has to fly through a third country to get there, it typically needs the third country's permission. How does that work in cyberspace? Early reports suggest the United States did indeed ask China for help in attacking North Korea's digital infrastructure. (Pretty much all the telecom routes to North Korea run through China.) But those reports last week said China had not responded to the U.S. request. Did that change in the last few days? | There are other questions, too. When one country wants to bomb another but has to fly through a third country to get there, it typically needs the third country's permission. How does that work in cyberspace? Early reports suggest the United States did indeed ask China for help in attacking North Korea's digital infrastructure. (Pretty much all the telecom routes to North Korea run through China.) But those reports last week said China had not responded to the U.S. request. Did that change in the last few days? |
| North Korea's struggles do sound consistent with "cyber vandalism," which is the term Obama used for the Sony hacking, so perhaps this is Washington's idea of a proportional response. Then again, a disruption in connectivity is very different from infiltrating a network and stealing secrets. And we know the U.S. military has a very precise way of talking about cyber operations. | North Korea's struggles do sound consistent with "cyber vandalism," which is the term Obama used for the Sony hacking, so perhaps this is Washington's idea of a proportional response. Then again, a disruption in connectivity is very different from infiltrating a network and stealing secrets. And we know the U.S. military has a very precise way of talking about cyber operations. |
| Related: Obama called the Sony hack an act of 'cyber vandalism.' He's right. | Related: Obama called the Sony hack an act of 'cyber vandalism.' He's right. |