On this episode of China Uncensored,
turns out, nuclear weapons might not be
North Korea’s most dangerous weapon.
Actually, they probably are,
but this is also concerning.
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored,
I’m your host Chris Chappell.
So you know how everyone’s been freaking out
that North Korea might develop
and launch a nuclear weapon?
Well, it turns out
you don’t need to worry about that.
You need to worry that about North Korea
launching a nuke
and possibly launching
global cyber attacks.
Since you're currently on the internet,
you've probably heard of the massive cyber attack
that began on May 11.
The magnitude of the attack here
is tremendous.
We’re talking 200,000 computers
across 150 different countries
so this is really the biggest cyber shakedown
in history.
The attack is called WannaCry,
which is how I feel every time
I look at the news these days.
Around the world,
university, business, and local government computers
were greeted with this:
Oops!
Your files have been encrypted!
Sorry, it was an honest mistake
the hackers made.
They’ll gladly fix it for you,
if you just pay them $300 in bitcoins.
However if you don’t,
three days later,
the price gets doubled to $600,
and after seven days,
the files are deleted.
It’s a type of attack called ransomware.
Like software, but with ransom.
I’m sure you understand.
Who’s to blame for this outrage?
Well, it might be North Korea.
Cybersecurity firm Symantec and Kaspersky Lab
have identified code in a version
of the WannaCry virus
that is linked to the Lazarus Group.
That's the same group that was behind
the Sony Pictures hack in 2014.
They're also known for stealing 81 million dollars
from Bangladesh's central bank.
And they work for North Korea.
That isn't enough to say this attack
was definitely done by North Korea.
For example,
some experts say this ransomware attack
isn't how North Korean hackers
usually operate.
Or that it's possible that other hackers
just borrowed the code from Lazarus.
Which makes the dark web
sound like the kind of friendly neighborhood
where your next-door hacker can ring your computer
and ask to borrow a cup of code.
The point is,
we don't know for certain that North Korea
is behind WannaCry.
But one good thing that's come out of this
is now people are paying way more attention
to the danger of North Korean cyber attacks,
thanks to the sudden media focus.
Unless you're talking about the focus
of Chinese state-run media.
Which are blaming another country f
or the cyber attacks.
Guess which one?
China Daily says,
“the US National Security Agency
must shoulder some of the blame.”
Oh great,
it involves the NSA.
That's so embarrassing.
My favorite state-run media,
the Global Times, said,
“Many criticized the U.S. government,
saying that it was responsible
for this spread of ransomware.
Obviously this accusation is reasonable.”
Obviously.
Just as reasonable as the People’s Daily
comparing it to the hacking scene in Die Hard 4.
Yes, they did.
How, you ask,
is the NSA responsible
for this cyber attack?
Apparently, the NSA has been exploiting
a flaw in Microsoft Windows for years,
with a hacking tool known as EternalBlue,
which is also how I feel every time
I look at the news.
Apparently, a hacking group called The Shadow Brokers
got their hands on it
and made it public last month.
And that’s how the alleged North Korean hackers
were able to pull this off.
Allegedly.
So, the NSA messed up.
But that’s not the whole story.
Let's back up for a moment
and talk about North Korean hackers.
The reason that hackers like the Lazarus Group
are able to pull off massive cyber attacks
is thanks to decades of training,
Internet access,
and office space
that was given to North Korea by—
you guessed it—
China.
Oops.
Yes, according to North Korean defectors,
China is largely responsible
for the growth of North Korea’s
cyber espionage abilities.
And they learned well.
According to the Korea Institute of Liberal Democracy
in Seoul,
“Today, an elite squad of 6,800 North Korean state hackers
are engaged in fraud, blackmail
and online gambling that together
generate annual revenue of $860 million.”
It’s the only way the poor,
starving leaders of North Korea
can fund themselves
with those mean old sanctions
the UN put on them.
That, plus gunrunning,
jewel smuggling, illegal gambling,
counterfeiting, and dealing drugs
out of its embassies worldwide.
And again, North Korea’s hacking skills
are thanks largely to decades of support
from the Chinese Communist Party.
So it’s ironic that the country
hardest hit by WannaCry—
which, even if not done by North Korea,
definitely used North Korean code—
was China!
I bet he does wanna cry.
The Global Times says
“about 40,000 [Chinese] institutions
have been affected;
of those, 4,000 were academic,
including Tsinghua University
and Peking University.”
So if the Chinese regime
gave so much support and training
to North Korean hackers in the past,
why would North Korea want to cyber attack
the hand that feeds it?
Isn’t that sort of evidence
it might not be North Korea
behind the attack?
Well, not necessarily.
Relations between China and North Korea
are increasingly bitter.
Former Chinese leader
and Super Ghouls and Ghosts wannabe, Jiang Zemin
was awkwardly close
with Kim Jong-Un’s daddy,
but current leaders Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-Un
are not even friends.
They haven’t even had a state visit.
And now Xi Jinping is apparently working
with President Trump,
so I wouldn’t be surprised if Kim
is a bit jealous.
But there could be
other explanations, too:
It could have been a cyber attack
that unexpectedly hit computers in China
in a way that North Korea didn’t intend.
Or it could possibly have not been
North Korea at all.
Either way,
it probably wasn’t a good long-term strategy for China
to be training North Korean hackers.
What do you think about North Korea’s new
weapon,
and the attack on China?
Leave your comments below.
Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.
Once again I’m your host, Chris Chappell,
see you next time.