A more complete and vivid understanding of the North Korean threat requires an inspection of its cyber capability and its integration as an instrument of national power alongside nuclear and ballistic threats. Second, the recent spike in financially motivated operations suggests that North Korea is increasingly using cyber means for dual purposes- to both exercise political power and raise money to support the regime. First, North Korea has consistently utilized its cyber capability as a way of demonstrating power while incurring less risk of direct retaliation. However, it is important to note that the timeline does not show a clearly defined correlation between geopolitical events and cyber offenses. The compilation of events in the timeline relies entirely on open-source documentation and may be incomplete.Ĭyber activity is a critical part of North Korea’s national strategy, and some cyber events appear to relate to geopolitical events shown in the timeline. and South Korea, and (4) Cyber incidents. In an attempt to build greater understanding of how North Korea has utilized offensive cyber capability in connection with broader geopolitical events, the timeline above shows a series of events falling into four categories: (1) North Korea’s nuclear and missile-related events, (2) United Nations resolutions that directly or indirectly relate to the North Korean nuclear program, (3) High-profile political events domestically and in North Korea's relationship with the U.S. This is also true of North Korea as it has accumulated offensive cyber capacity and established a willingness to use capability in pursuit of national aims. In order to understand today’s broader security environment, understanding cyber operations is vital. Similarly, the hack on Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014, the SWIFT heists in 2015, and the Wannacry ransomware attack in 2017 were high-profile cases that demonstrated the malicious intention and increasing sophistication of North Korea’s offensive cyber capacity. ![]() and South Korean websites in 2009, was one of the most significant attacks of that type attributed to North Korea. The Fourth of July Incident, a DDoS attack against U.S. The Pyongyang regime has frequently conducted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against South Korea, blocking the websites of governmental and financial institutions. Since the early 2000s, offensive cyber capabilities have been added to North Korea's toolkit. In addition to its unpredictable nuclear and missile provocations, North Korea’s offensive cyber operations of recent years are increasingly viewed as a source of regional, if not global instability. ![]() Today, North Korea seems to have achieved their goal-at least partly-and is using the threat of nuclear weapons to generate instability in Southeast Asia and beyond, explicitly targeting the U.S. In 2003, North Korea declared its withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), announcing “its total freedom from the binding force of the safeguards accord with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)”, and stating that it had “no intention to produce nuclear weapons and our nuclear activities confined only to peaceful purposes.” However, evidence of nuclear processing activities was detected few months later, and its first nuclear weapons test in 2006 proved that North Korea was pursuing a nuclear weapons program. North Korea's asymmetric capability dates back to the early 1960s, when North Korea established its first nuclear research center in Yongbyon and started building capacity to develop its own nuclear program. These provocations most often fall short of actual armed conflict, and North Korea has sought to instead develop asymmetric tools, as evidenced by its nuclear program and, more recently, the development of offensive cyber capabilities. North Korea (DPRK) has a long history of triggering international responses through displays of national power.
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