Bureau 121

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Bureau 121

military.[5][6][7][8] It conducts offensive cyber operations, including espionage and cyber-enabled finance crime.[6][5] According to American authorities, the RGB manages clandestine operations and has six bureaus.[9][10]

Cyber operations are thought to be a cost-effective way for North Korea to maintain an asymmetric military option, as well as a means to gather intelligence; its primary intelligence targets are South Korea, Japan, and the United States.[10]

History

Bureau 121 was created in 1998.[11]

Targets and methods

The activities of the agency came to public attention in December 2014 when

had been hacked.[12][13] Bureau 121 has been blamed for the cyber breach, but North Korea has rejected this accusation.[14]

Much of the agency's activity has been directed at

Symantec to have only 10 to 50 members with a "unique" ability to infiltrate websites.[7]

American authorities believe that North Korea has military offensive cyber operations capability and may have been responsible for malicious cyber activity since 2009.[10] As part of its sophisticated set-up, cells from Bureau 121 are believed to be operating around the world.[16][17][18] One of the suspected locations of a Bureau 121 cell is the Chilbosan Hotel in Shenyang, China.[11][19][5]

South Korea has also repeatedly blamed Bureau 121 for conducting GPS jamming aimed at South Korea. The most recent case of jamming occurred on 1 April 2016.

Structure

Bureau 121 consists of the following units as of 2019:[20]

Staffing

Bureau 121 is the largest (more than 600 hackers) and most sophisticated unit in the RGB.

hackers are hand-picked graduates of the University of Automation, Pyongyang[7] and spend five years in training.[23] A 2021 estimate suggested that there may be over 6,000 members in Bureau 121, with many of them operating in other countries, such as Belarus, China, India, Malaysia, and Russia.[16]

While these specialists are scattered around the world, their families benefit from special privileges at home.[17]

Alleged operations

See also

References

  1. ^ Pinkston, Daniel A. (2016). "Inter-Korean Rivalry in the Cyber Domain: The North Korean Cyber Threat in the "Sŏn'gun" Era". Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. 17 (3): 67–68.
    JSTOR 26395976
    .
  2. ^ Park, Donghui (2019). "3.5 North Korea's Cyber Proxy Warfare Strategy" (PDF). North Korea's Cyber Proxy Warfare: Origins, Strategy, and Regional Security Dynamics (PhD). University of Washington. pp. 137–150.
  3. ^ Gause, Ken E. (August 2015). "North Korea's Provocation and Escalation Calculus: Dealing with the Kim Jong-un Regime" (PDF). Defense Technical Information Center. CNA Analysis & Solutions. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 6, 2021.
  4. ^ AKA: Department/Office/Unit 121, Electronic Reconnaissance Department, or the Cyber Warfare Guidance Department[1][2][3]
  5. ^ a b c d "Strategic Primer: Cybersecurity" (PDF). American Foreign Policy Council. 2016. p. 11.
  6. ^ a b c Bartlett, Jason (2020). "Exposing the Financial Footprints of North Korea's Hackers". Center for a New American Security.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Park, Ju-Min; Pearson, James (December 5, 2014). "In North Korea, hackers are a handpicked, pampered elite". Reuters. Archived from the original on December 19, 2014. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  8. ^ Gibbs, Samuel (December 2, 2014). "Did North Korea's notorious Unit 121 cyber army hack Sony Pictures?". The Guardian. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  9. ^ John Pike. "North Korean Intelligence Agencies". Federation of American Scientists, Intelligence Resource Program. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d e United States Department of Defense. "Military and Security Developments Involving the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 2013" (PDF). Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  11. ^
    nytimes.com
    . Retrieved January 20, 2015.
  12. ^ Lang, Brett (17 December 2014). "Major U.S. Theaters Drop 'The Interview' After Sony Hacker Threats". Variety. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  13. ^ Brown, Pamela; Sciutto, Jim; Perez, Evan; Acosta, Jim; Bradner, Eric (December 18, 2014). "U.S. will respond to North Korea hack, official says". CNN. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Cloherty, Jack (17 December 2014). "Sony Hack Believed to Be Routed Through Infected Computers Overseas". ABC News. US: Go.
  15. ^ Sangwon Yoon, Shinyye Kang (June 25, 2013). "S. Korea Government, Media Sites Hacked Closed for Review". Bloomberg. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  16. ^ a b c Healthcare Sector Cybersecurity Coordination Center, (HC3) (2021). "North Korean Cyber Activity" (PDF). U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ a b Sciutto, Jim (19 December 2014). "White House viewing Sony hack as national security threat". CNN. WWLP 22 News. Archived from the original on 2014-12-19.
  18. ^ Tapper, Jake (18 December 2014). "Panel: Were North Korean "cyber soldiers" behind Sony hack?". The Lead with Jake Tapper. CNN. Archived from the original on 26 March 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  19. ^ Daly, Michael (December 20, 2014). "Inside the 'Surprisingly Great' North Korean Hacker Hotel". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  20. doi:10.23919/CYCON.2019.8756954
    .
  21. ^ "The Organization of Cyber Operations in North Korea" (PDF). Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-06-30. Retrieved 2020-06-28.
  22. ^ Park, Ju-min; Pearson, James. Gopalakrishnan, Raju (ed.). "Exclusive: North Korea's Unit 180, the cyber warfare cell that worries the West". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017.
  23. ^ Waterhouse, James; Doble, Anna (2015-05-19). "Bureau 121: North Korea's elite hackers and a 'tasteful' hotel in China". BBC News. Retrieved 2017-04-27.
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