North Korea's internet hit by DDoS attack, disrupting state websites
by@Reuters
Summary
North Korea experienced significant internet disruptions this week due to a likely DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) cyberattack, as reported by the US network monitoring firm Kentik. The attack resulted in intermittent outages of over 40 state-managed websites, including those of the foreign ministry and the state news agency KCNA, beginning on Tuesday and lasting for 32 hours. The surge in traffic originated from locations such as Vietnam and the Philippines, although the specific perpetrators remain unidentified. This incident was reportedly unrelated to any global internet issues stemming from vulnerabilities in the PHP programming language.
Analysis
Kentik: Kentik is a US-based network monitoring company focused on internet traffic analysis and anomaly detection. Its team examined traffic patterns targeting North Korea and determined the cause of recent website disruptions. The firm's findings provided the primary technical assessment of the incident. Brenda Goh: Brenda Goh is the Korea bureau chief for Reuters, leading coverage of the Koreas with a focus on technology, security, and economic developments. She authored the report on the North Korean internet outage based on Kentik's data. Her reporting connects technical findings to regional context. Doug Madory: Doug Madory is director of internet analysis at Kentik, specializing in global network traffic evaluation. He identified synchronized traffic surges from regions including Vietnam and Venezuela as evidence of a DDoS attack. His analysis pinpointed the start time and characteristics of the disruption affecting North Korean sites. North Korea: North Korea is a reclusive East Asian nation with a tightly controlled, state-managed internet network using the .kp domain. In this event, the country's official websites, including those of the foreign ministry and state news agency KCNA, experienced outages due to a suspected cyberattack. The incident highlights the vulnerability of its restricted online infrastructure. Lincoln Feast: Lincoln Feast is an editor at Reuters handling international news stories. He oversaw editing of the article detailing the DDoS attack and related analysis. His role supports accurate presentation of cybersecurity developments involving North Korea. Outage Scope: More than 40 official North Korean state websites were affected during the disruption period. Attack Origin: Traffic surges originated from locations including Vietnam and the Philippines, coinciding with the website outages. Unrelated Factors: The incident was separate from any broader global internet issues tied to programming language vulnerabilities.
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