
North Korea's computer operating system mirrors its political one - dosshell
http://www.reuters.com/article/northkorea-computers-idUSKBN0UA0GF20151227
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phyzome
Custom crypto? That will work out well for them.

~~~
io_
Doesn't necessarily mean custom crypto, just "own version of encrypting
files"; which could mean custom code using well known open source encryption
libraries on files

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nbzklr
Link to the talk:
[https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7174-lifting_the_fog_on_red_star...](https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7174-lifting_the_fog_on_red_star_os#video)

~~~
lawl
Submission should probably be changed to that, as it is the primary source.

~~~
ygra
Considering that the article was written before the talk I'm not sure the talk
can be considered the primary source.

~~~
tomw1808
and its spreading...

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/27/north-koreas-
co...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/27/north-koreas-computer-
operating-system-revealed-by-researchers) with the discussion here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10797927](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10797927)
and here:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3yeuqy/north_koreas_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3yeuqy/north_koreas_computer_operating_system_revealed/)

[http://europe.newsweek.com/north-korea-politics-computer-
ope...](http://europe.newsweek.com/north-korea-politics-computer-operating-
system-409205?rm=eu) with the discussion on reddit:
[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3ygd3l/north_koreas_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/3ygd3l/north_koreas_computer_operating_system_mirrors/)

[http://motherboard.vice.com/read/inside-north-koreas-
totalit...](http://motherboard.vice.com/read/inside-north-koreas-totalitarian-
operating-system)

and one more [http://recode.net/2015/12/27/north-koreas-version-of-
linux-s...](http://recode.net/2015/12/27/north-koreas-version-of-linux-spies-
on-those-who-use-it-researchers-say/)

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yaiu
I didn't see any computers running this OS during my trip to Pyongyang. I saw
a few machines running Win2k and one that ran a bowling alley ran Win3.1.
Comical stuff..

~~~
kapsel
I saw multiple machines running RedStar OS, even took photos of me interacting
with one of them, on my 2-week trip a couple of years ago.

I commented on another North Korea post here on Hacker News a while ago, where
I also posted the URL to the photos, if anyone are curious. It even had IP
addresses set and some sort of network (not Internet) access.

~~~
bmer
How did you end up getting a chance to visit North Korea?

~~~
threeseed
There are plenty of tours that operate in North Korea.

Koryo Tours is one that I took a few years ago.

~~~
w8rbt
Also, the government occasionally allows a radio amateur to operate. Just this
month, North Korea was active on HF (last time was 2002). They'll be active
again in Feb 2016:

[http://www.arrl.org/news/p5-3z9dx-concludes-demonstration-
op...](http://www.arrl.org/news/p5-3z9dx-concludes-demonstration-operation-
from-north-korea)

[http://www.eham.net/articles/35853](http://www.eham.net/articles/35853)

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joenathan
The article has zero technical content, it's like a sandwich that's all bread
and no meat. It's a shame too because it is a very interesting topic.

~~~
willscott
The researchers put the tools they used and decompiled code on-line:
[https://github.com/takeshixx/redstar-
tools](https://github.com/takeshixx/redstar-tools)

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ars
Seems like an extreme form of
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway's_law)

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hellbanner
DRPRK used to have dozens of <strong> tags in their HTML.. to show how strong
they were, I guess.

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voltagex_
The CCC talk included a link to [https://github.com/takeshixx/redstar-
tools](https://github.com/takeshixx/redstar-tools), asking for people to help
"lift the fog" even further.

------
nickodell
>There's no sign in the operating system, the researchers say, of the kinds of
cyber attack capability North Korea has been accused of.

What were you expecting to find? A text file named sonyhack.txt?

~~~
garrettgrimsley
It means that they didn't find the technological prowess exhibited in the
various cyber attacks that the DPRK has been accused of reflected in the OS.
The key word in the sentence quoted is "capability."

