Charlie Miller and Kim Jong-Il could pwn the Internet with two years, $100 million
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted August 2nd 2010 11:53AM
posted August 2nd 2010 11:53AM
Well there's one thing we can say about Charlie Miller -- he sure is an ambitious rascal. When not busy exposing security holes in OS X, our fave security expert (aside from Angelina Jolie in Hackers, of course) has laid out a shocking expose based on the following premise: if Kim Jong-Il had a budget of $100 million and a timeline of two years could North Korea's de facto leader (and sunglasses model) take down the United States in a cyberwar? It seems that the answer is yes. Using a thousand or so hackers, "ranging from elite computer commandos to basic college trained geeks," according to AFP, the country could target specific elements of a country's infrastructure (including smart grids, banks, and communications) and create "beacheads" by compromising systems up to two years before they pulled the trigger. Speaking at DEFCON this weekend, Miller mentioned that such an attack could be carried out by anyone, although North Korea has a few advantages, including the fact that its infrastructure is so low tech that even destroying the entire Internet would leave it pretty much unscathed. That said, we're not worried in the least bit: if the diminutive despot brings down the entire Internet, how is he ever going to see Twilight: Eclipse?
They better never fuck with my Internet!
Leave teh interwebzz alone :'(
They dun goofed
@AlO
Bringing down the internets makes me so Ronery!
@AlO
Kim Jong-Il vs. The Chans: FIGHT!
Seriously, if the Chans get wind that a foreign despot is trying to take over THEIR internet, Kimg Jon-Il won't know what hit him. They might not have the government-backed budget, but they have the MOST amount of free time.
@Mike10010100 Like they could do anything. Can't enter the country and can't hack a country with no internet.
@holysocks
You would be surprised by the things people were able to hack before there ever was an internet. Learn your nerd history plz
@NuklearPanda
Charlie Brooker, right? God I love brit comedy.
No one has been down ranked into oblivion yet!
That's a first ;D
@TheCake There is a "first!" in your post! Looks like you'll be the first!
Oh. Wait. NOOOOOOOOO!
@AlO
I'm pretty sure more people would go to war for their internet (porn) than oil... lol.
Seriously though, didn't Die Hard 4 show us that our dependence on technology is basically going to screw us over one day? That's what I got from the film.
@AlO They can frack with my internet, just stay away from the pron.
@thenutty1 Cpt'n crunch lives.
@NuklearPanda
Don't worry, the Cyber Police will never let that happen.
@Plazmic Flame
Yeah. I just hope that that 3000 man strong cyberforce our tax dollars are paying for do their job.
Awesome movie though.
I wouldn't worry too much about North Korea and their elite computer commandos.
Aliens with ice-lasers are clearly the bigger threat here.
@Sisyphus
Nah, we have Nano-suited ninjas to protect us from those.
@Sisyphus. No, Aliens with planet destroying battleships are *clearly* the real threat here
@Lord Vader
If you could keep your planet-destroying-battleships alive for more than two hours we would all take you more seriously.
@Lord Vader
Sorry Vader, but I don't see your planet destroying ships as a threat if they are easily taken down by shooting missiles into a vent shaft.
North Korea can't even Photoshop correctly (remember the rocket launch photos?). Get the hell out of hear, Kim.
@Squalor
Yeah! cuz who needs to hear?
@Squalor I think that was Iran
@Joe Cool
Kindly do not use the term "cuz" while correcting someone's spelling.
Sent Beiber over to North Korea as a human sacrifice. This will satiate them enough for me to play some more Starcraft II online.
Don't worry, if the internet would get pwned, you'll see the sysadmin rebellion quickly and swiftly take care of this dictator.
This won't happen. $100 million and 1000 hackers mean that each would be compensated no more than $100,000 each. I don't know how many people would trade their place in the free world (they'd have to either live in NK or jail) for a hundred grand. Actually I don't know anybody that would do that.
Actually, I don't know anybody.
@Abraham Lincoln
That's because your dead you idiot! But at least your honest...
@Abraham Lincoln
Are you kidding? Plenty of people would do it for 100k, not to mention the fact that 100k is a mortal shit-ton of money over there.
@Abraham Lincoln
Well, you'd be considered a hero. You'd probably get a lot of women.
@Haxagon
Until you fall out of favor then you are done.
If reports are true, the North Korean football manager Kim Jong-hun, was kicked out of the Workers’ Party and was forced to become a construction worker because of the team’s poor results at the World Cup. His life may very well be in danger since its considered he betrayed Kim Jong-un (Kim Jong-il's son)
If the consequences for failing at football are that bad, can you imagine the consequences for failing to take down the United States?
As a network programmer I see this as an example of, 'easier said than done.' There's no way your going to lay undetected in thousands of computers for 2 years monitoring things. And even then every grid, defense system, and bank uses very complex custom designed software which is hard enough to figure out even when your working for the very company that developed it. The guy giving the presentation is from a security consulting company so of course he wants to scare some big companies/governments right into his profitable hands.
Oh, hahaha - great jokes. I'd wager that US intelligence agencies were laughing just as much at the idea that Kim would be able to advance his nuke programs at the expense of his peoples food supply....but they're not laughing so hard now, are they?
Forget about where Jong-Il would get the funding - he could sell a few personal items and come up with that figure - this is a real and present threat. If not Korea, certainly a rogue middle east state.
@rapitera
"at the expense of his peoples food supply"
tips :USA is doing the same.
@magallanes
How so? When has the U.S. in recent history ever spent so much money pursuing weapons programs that basic levels of food are not available to it's population? Can't remember the last time I couldn't buy a double cheese on account of there being a crazy man with sunglasses and a pompadour in the white house.
All this talk of cyber warfare -- but no action.
Someone fucking do it already, I wanna see it.
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
@DoctarPeppar
I agree. Let's take things back a few hundred years. Bring on post-apocalyptic-a!
I'm down to hunt and gather.
Herro!!!
Well, I can confirm this, the power grid network is not on the network.... It;s a dedicated and completely separate system. There's not evel allowed to BE an internet connected anything inside the power control facilities (it has to be in a separate building).
The "smartgrid" only use data for billing to the power company, not aggregate power draw data which is instead collected on their own network of nodes connected to nothing. If this data is compromised, manual meter reading can still be done. Braking these systems (which also communicate over both wifi and the power lines, but not your household internet pipe) has no effect on the grid. The data provided by the grid to your smart power devices simply tells them grid load, and suggests they not enable for up to 15 minutes, after that though, a continued hack attack would have no effect as they'll turn on anyway.
As for the internet itself, possibly a large enough bot net could cause enough disruptive traffic, for a few hours maybe a day, to "cause issues" with bandwidth and internet reliability. However, good luck getting viruses to do this embedded far enough in advance on enough nodes to escape security inspection eyes.
The internet is way more durable than people surmise. These kind of scares are common and only the layman fears them (security experts fear the hacks themselves, but not bringing down the net).
Cyber way is a reality, but the majority of our core system are not on the net, they're on ATM or other parallel networks, and are not effected in any way by attacks from zombie machines.
Amazingly, they were thwarted by the Mac guy using a PC and Bruce Willis.
sure take down the interenet. Have prince help out too. Just don't bother /b/ they'll come back for the lulz faster than you can say rule 34 on Charlie Miller and Kim Jong-il
Hack The Planet!!!
Hmmm, this story is a load of rubbish... they would require a quantum leap in their coding ability, from where it is now...
Now you see, the changing of the worrd is inevitabre
Lisa: I'm sorry, it's what?
Kim Jong Il: Inevit, inevitabre
Lisa: One more time
Kim Jong Il: [ shouts] Inevitabre! Things are nevitabrey going to change! Goddamnit, open your fucking ears!
@uncensy
When you see Arec Barrwin, you see the true ugriness of human nature.
I'm so ronery... So ronery... So ronery and sadry arone... There's no one... Just me onry... Sitting on my rittle throne... I work rearry hard and make up get prans, but, nobody listens, no one understands... Seems rike no one takes me serirousry... And so, I'm ronery... A rittle ronery... Poor rittle me... There's no one I can rerate to... Feewr rike a biwd in a cage... It's kinda siwry, but, not reawry, because, it's fiwring my body with rage... I'm the smartest most crever, most physicawry fit, but, nobody erse seems to rearrize it... When I can the worrd maybe they'rr notice me... And untiwr then, I'wr be ronery... Yeaaaaah, a rittle ronery... Poor rittle me...
MATTT DAMONNN!
personally, I'd like to see the Internet taken down.
Ok, maybe I wouldn't LIKE it..
but I think it would be an interesting social experiment.
perhaps even beneficial..
Erm... wouldn't we just have to cut a few cables connecting NK to the internet and be done with it?
@cain Sure if you assume they would stupidly do all of the attacks from inside NK
He will never pwn the country's Internet. Why do these "Chicken Little's" fail to forget that connections can be blocked and lines can be cut. This guy is in the pocket of some gov official trying to push their tyranny down our throat via fear mongering and playing on the ignorant.