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> 2. It actually is North Korea. We've been led to believe that they exist in a technological dark ages of sorts, with most of their infrastructure relying on t
by brenschluss 12y ago
> 2. It actually is North Korea. We've been led to believe that they exist in a technological dark ages of sorts, with most of their infrastructure relying on technology that would horrify the average HN user. They're certainly belligerent enough, but now suddenly we find that they have not just the technology to pull it off, but also the talent? How does that kind of talent even develop under a strictly regimented government like North Korea's? What kind of ability do they actually have?
See, this really isn't the case, and why most people believe this is beyond me, when a google search would suffice. I'm not criticizing you, actually, just pointing out that there's an incredible amount of misinformation out there about North Korea. Look at these photographs of a technology trade fair in Pyongyang this summer, for example:
http://www.northkoreatech.org/2014/06/23/another-look-at-the-spring-trade-fair/ http://www.northkoreatech.org/2014/06/23/another-look-at-the...
Most telling, IMO, is that a 32G usb is being sold for USD20, where at the time of writing, the same product was nearly USD16 on Amazon US. That's a remarkably low markup for a product, especially for one in North Korea. Also considering that it's a high volume, low price product with so little of a markup makes me think that other technologies must be very available and accessible, and that NK is hardly the technological dark ages that popular discussion has us think it is.
Of course, this all isn't to say that NK performed the hack, but I hardly think that a lack of infrastructure would really be the barrier if North Korea really wanted to train a cadre of hackers.
- CamperBob2 12y agoThe amount of $20 isn't relevant. What's relevant is how hard it is to come by $20 in the DPRK.
- senand 12y agoIndeed. Don't forget the currency is the won, not US dollars. Foreign currency in a communist country is most likely very hard to get (at least in East Germany it was).
- brenschluss 12y agoClearly not very hard, if the entire trade show is conducted in RMB, euros, and usd.
- coldtea 12y agoOr, you know, the entire trade show is: a) for people in the higher echelons of the party that are paid more (and might still be expensive to them), e.g. a 1% of the population b) BS organised to give the impression that they are not behind, while in reality nobody can afford those, and the buyers are "actors".
- thaumaturgy 12y agoHuh, thanks for the link. Pretty much all of the very little I know about North Korea comes from articles like http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/04/glimpses-of-humanity-in-choreographed-north-korea/100280/ http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/04/glimpses-of-human... (e.g. #17 @ http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/04/glimpses-of-humanity-in-choreographed-north-korea/100280/#img17 http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/04/glimpses-of-human...). Or http://www.asianscientist.com/2012/12/topnews/dprk-north-korea-long-range-rocket-launch-succeeds-2012/ http://www.asianscientist.com/2012/12/topnews/dprk-north-kor... -- that, plus the lights-out situation at night, plus their previous difficulties with rocket technology and their impoverishment, altogether gave me the impression that they're a couple decades behind other developed nations, technologically. I always figured at least a little of that was propaganda of sorts, but there was also the occasional "I visited DPRK and took these surreptitious shots of what I saw" article that seemed to substantiate it.
- Rapzid 12y agoMan, they are RIGHT next to China where this stuff is manufactured and available for a lot less USD than the US pays. You want markup, just look at New Zealand. Edit: also what camperbob said.
- qohen 12y agoif North Korea really wanted to train a cadre of hackers. They've done this -- they have an elite military-hacker unit called Bureau 121 of about 1800 people, as described by a defector in a recent Reuters story I quote in my comment above: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8767033 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8767033
- defen 12y agoThose pictures aren't inconsistent with this "trade show" being about 4000 square feet of floor space with 50 people attending...