North Korea expected to increase cyberattacks this year: experts

(123rf)

In a key year-end message, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un described the two Koreas as “warring countries,” and vowed to “mobilize all physical means and other capabilities to cause a big stir” in the South. The anticipated rise in North Korean provocations will likely include cyberattacks, experts and officials in Seoul say.

At the end of five days of Workers’ Party of Korea meetings, the North Korean leader said his country should “no longer commit the error of considering South Korea as being capable of reconciliation or reunification.”

“We must accelerate preparations for quashing all of South Korea,” he said, unveiling plans for enhancing nuclear and missile capabilities and sending three more satellites to space.

To fund military developments, North Korea will likely have increased interest in boosting income through financial crimes, according to an expert with knowledge on the North Korean cyber landscape.

“The focus of North Korean cyber operations is on raising income through stealing foreign digital assets to finance its weapons programs,” the expert, based in Seoul, told The Korea Herald, asking to be quoted anonymously.

North Korea appears to have restructured its cyber operations groups recently, according to Google-owned cybersecurity service Mandiant’s post in October.

The reorganization is seen as a move directed at blending efforts and enhancing internal collaboration, although it is not yet known how it is going to affect future operations. So far North Korea has not announced a shift in its cyber posture.

South Korean military and intelligence officials have said North Korea may carry out provocations around the time of the general election for South Korea's National Assembly, which is slated for April.

Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik told reporters during a year-end press event that North Korea tends to time its provocations around political events in Seoul and Washington. The National Intelligence Service similarly said last month that it has learned of a North Korean plan for initiating provocations to coincide with the election.