Gov`t braces for cyber attacks by N. Korea during summit

The South Korean military raised INFOCON, the information operational alert level against North Korea, by one notch Tuesday ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit to be hosted by Seoul March 26-27.

The raising of the alert level was the first since the death of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in December last year.

A military source said, “Judging that North Korea could launch cyber terrorist attacks, including distributed-denial-of-service attacks on major state organizations to disrupt the summit, we have upgraded INFOCON by one notch from Level 5 (ordinary alert level) to Level 4 (enhanced alert level).”

Issued by the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, INFOCON consists of five levels, with five being the safest, that are raised one notch every time the probability of a cyber attack increases. INFOCON was elevated to Level 4 soon after North Korea announced Kim’s death on Dec. 19 before returning to Level 5 nine days later.

The South Korean military will elevate WATCHCON, the alert level of intelligence surveillance vis-a-vis North Korea, if Seoul judges that Pyongyang could launch a provocation ahead of the nuclear summit. WATCHCON is at Level 3, which is issued amid the possibility of a significant threat to national security, out of five levels.

A ranking military official said, “We`ve recently monitored unusual moves, with North Korea’s leadership, including leader Kim Jong Un, visiting a string of sensitive places including military units on the North’s west coast, missile guidance center, and the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom." “Chances are high that the North will launch a cyber attack without eyeing specific targets with the intent to cause confusion in South Korean society.”

Also over the summit period, South Korean–U.S. military forces will deploy E-83 Joint Stars (J-STARS), U.S. ground surveillance reconnaissance aircraft, and a corresponding volume of surveillance equipment to monitor North Korea.