Cum a ajuns (pana si) Coreea de Nord pe harta IT-ului

Zilele trecute presa internationala scria despre sistemul de operare Red Star lansat de…Coreea de Nord. Sigur, de cand Bolivia si-a declarat public ambitia (nu intentia) de a lansa un satelit, n-ar trebui sa ne mai mire multe lucruri.

Un blogger rus pe nume Mikhail a reusit sa dea lovitura prezentand screenshoturi cu sistemul de operare nord-coreean. Cam asa arata:

Sistemul de operare Red Star este bazat pe Linux. Chiar daca specialistii au spus ca “este un sistem de operare la nivelul celor de acum 10 ani“, multi si-au pus intrebarea: de ce le trebuia nord-coreenilor un sistem de operare?

Coreea de Nord este una dintre cele mai putin tehnologizate state din lume, la nivelul cetateanului de rand. Automobilele sunt destul de rare. 7 din 10 familii folosesc bicicletele. Exista putin peste 1 milion de linii telefonice principale. Primele telefoane publice au inceput sa fie instalate la inceputul anilor ’90. Cetatenii obisnuiti nu detin telefoane fixe.

Telefonia mobila a fost introdusa in 2002, interzisa in 2004 (cu exceptia institutiilor si demnitarilor), reintrodusa in 2008 printr-o companie egipteana (3G). Numarul de abonati este acum dupa unele surse intre 100.000-150.000.

“Paik Hak-soon, of South Korea’s Sejong Institute thinktank, said that “government, party, military people” would be the beneficiaries of the new service, although traders might also be allowed to use it.

Orascom’s chairman, Naguib Sawiris, has said he expects up to 10% of the population to use the service, with about 50,000 signing up in the first six months. Coverage will initially be limited to the capital and other big cities. He said: “This is not just about providing third-generation mobile services. We are making history in a country that is developing and opening up in a remarkable way.”

Conform Wikipedia, Internetul este putin dezvoltat.

Primul serviciu e-mail experimental a aparut in 2001, printr-un ISP numit Silibank, conexiunea fiind prin China (Shenyang). In 2004 Coreea de Nord infiinta si prima companie de software (Korea 615 Editing Corp) cu sediul tot in Shenyang (China).

In 2002 s-a deschis primul “Internet Cafe” printr-un joint venture cu o companie sud-coreeana, conectat printr-o linie via China. O parte din hoteluri au conexiune la Internet. In 2005 s-a deschis un alt “Internet Cafe”, de data asta printr-o conexiune prin satelit.

Abia anul trecut au putut utilizatorii nord-coreeni sa  acceseze pentru prima oara un site de pe telefonul mobil:

“The service allows North Koreans to access a website through their phones to see news reports carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency as well as news about the capital Pyongyang, according to the government-run Uriminzokkiri website.

The Korean-language website as seen on an ordinary computer screen also allows viewers to listen to North Korean music, get information about books, art and investment opportunities in North Korea and even engage in Internet chatting. It was unclear, however, if those services were available in the mobile version.”

Deci Coreea de Nord a intarziat cat a putut accesul cetateanului de rand la tehnologia utilizata in comunicare. Asta nu inseamna ca nu a investit in aceasta tehnologie.

in 1990 lua fiinta Korea Computer Center, costul estimat fiind de 530 milioane $. Primul coordonator al institutiei a fost Kim Jong-nam, unul dintre fiii lui Kim Jong-il, care a studiat informatica in anii ’80 la o scoala privata din Elvetia. Investitiile in KCC (noua cladire si echipament) au ajuns la 1 miliard $ in 1997.

“It was gutted by fire in 1997, but rebuilt with a budget of $1 billion, a considerable sum in North Korea. It included the latest facilities and equipment that could be obtained from abroad. According to its website, the KCC has 11 provincial centers and “branch offices, joint ventures and marketing offices in Germany, China, Syria, [the United] Arab Emirates and elsewhere.”

In 2003, KCC si-a deschis o filiala in Germania, in Berlin. Asocierea cu un om de afaceri german (Jan Holterman) le-a facilitat nord-coreenilor accesul la tehnologie si participarea la CeBIT:

“The KCC’s branch in Germany was established in 2003 by a German businessman, Jan Holtermann, and is in Berlin. At the same time, Holtermann set up an intranet service in Pyongyang and, according to Reporters Without Borders, “reportedly spent 700,000 euros [more than US$950,000] on it. To get around laws banning the transfer of sensitive technology to the Pyongyang regime, all data will be kept on servers based in Germany and sent by satellite to North Korean Internet users.” Nevertheless, it ended the need to dial Internet service providers in China to get out on the Web.

Holtermann also arranged for some of the KCC’s products to be shown for the first time in the West at the international IT exhibition CeBIT (Center of Office and Information Technology) last year in Hanover, Germany. The KCC’s branches in China are also active and maintain offices in the capital Beijing and Dalian in the northeast.”

Conform Asian Times, programatorii KCC colaboreaza inclusiv cu Samsung pentru producerea unor softuri pentru telefonie mobila.

In 2005 jurnalistii straini au putut vizita cateva sali de clase unde KCC pregatea programatori:

“At the Kumsong school around 12 students were in each of the three classrooms shown to foreign journalists. Each desk had a computer made in Taiwan, running Microsoft operating systems. The boys – no girls were seen – study English for two hours each day and spend hours honing computer skills and developing their own programs.

School vice-president Pak Ryong-kil said the institute was set up in 1966 on the orders of Kim, then heir apparent to North Korea’s founding father Kim Il Sung.

“General Marshall Kim Jong-il has already pronounced the 21st century the century of IT,” he said. “We select the best students to study here.”

Every province has these kinds of schools, although they are smaller. “Now we have the intranet. There is no internet yet. But we do have plans to introduce it.”

Conform unui studiu al Institute for Security Technology Studies, Dartmouth College, printre cele mai importante institute superioare de pregatire sunt:

Pentru ce-i pregatesc nord-coreenii? Pentru a deveni hackeri.

“For nearly two decades, the South Korean media has been reporting on the cyberwar capabilities of North Korea. All of this revolved around activity at Mirim College, a North Korean school that, since the early 1990s, has been training, for want of a better term, computer hackers. The story, as leaked by South Korean intelligence organizations, was that a hundred cyberwar experts were graduated from Mirim College each year. North Korea is supposed to have, at present, a cyberwar unit of nearly a thousand skilled hackers and Internet technicians. South Korean intelligence believes the North Korean have a unit of at least a hundred very good hackers who have been ordered to scout out the South Korean government and military networks. In 1997, North Korea established Moranbong University, to produce even more elite Internet espionage experts. This school is small, accepting only 30 students each year, for a five year program of computer and military subjects.”

“Lt. Gen. Song and other South Korean defense officials have claimed that North Korea has been training about 100 “IT warriors” per year at IT colleges for its military hacking units since as early as 1981, and that North Korea has between 500 to 600 hacking specialists. [14] According to North Korean defector Kim Chŏl-su (alias), who is reported to have intimate knowledge of North Korean hacking abilities, about 500 hackers belong to the army’s 121st sŏ unit. [15] Other reports claim that there are five IT colleges training elite students: the College of Engineering at Kim Il Sung University, the University of Computer Science, Kim Ch’aek University of Technology, the University of Information Technology, and the Pyongyang University of Computer Technology. And, starting in 2003, Pyongyang is said to have begun special computer technology education programs for select “gifted” children at Mangyondae Children’s Palace, Pyongyang Children’s Palace, and Kŭmsŏng First and Second Junior High Schools, which previously offered special programs only in traditional subjects such as music, arts, and sports. [16] ” Dave H. Kim – Monterey Institute Center for Nonproliferation Studies

Anul trecut in iulie nord-coreenii au atacat mai multe siteuri americane si sud-coreene, intr-un efort coordonat. Asta a fost unul dintre motivele pentru care in ianuarie anul acesta, Coreea de Sud a creat  Cyber Command:

“SEOUL, Jan. 8 (Yonhap) — South Korea will launch a military cyber command next week to tackle the increasing threat of cyber attacks by North Korea, the country’s defense ministry said Friday.

Seoul’s first cyber command, to be led by a one-star general, will begin official duties on Monday, working on Internet hacking prevention, cyber security and restoration of damaged networks. It will also carry out military operations in cyberspace in cases of emergency, the defense ministry said in a press release.

The independent command will represent the country’s military in case of a major cyber crisis like the “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attacks that took place last July, the ministry said.

Officials here suspect that North Korea, which is technically still at war with the South, was behind the major cyber assault that paralyzed dozens of South Korean and U.S. government Web sites last summer.”

Chiar daca amenintarea reprezentata de hackerii nord-coreeni este mai putin vizibila decat celalalte domenii pe care au pus accentul strategii nord-coreeni (rachetele balistice si energia nucleara), acest domeniu se dezvolta in mod constant si  nu este deloc de neglijat.

Ceea ce, sa recunoastem, e remarcabil pentru o tara in care unul dintre alimentele de baza este  inca urzica.