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Comment by kkshin | Hacker News Reader

From the Korea Herald:

"According to South Korean experts, Pyongyang’s electronic warfare capabilities are second only to Russia and the United States."

Not sure how accurate THAT statement is, but North Korea has waged electronic warfare multiple times in the past including jamming SK's GPS systems at one point. They probably have a fully capable electronics warfare unit.

Its also quite possible that China supplies the technology/know how to conduct such attacks and uses NK as a proxy to test systems as SK military procedures are somewhat related to the United States.

Also, South Korea has REALLY bad security. For example, if you want to use some form of online banking you must use an ActiveX control with IE.

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"Also, South Korea has REALLY bad security. For example, if you want to use some form of online banking you must use an ActiveX control with IE."

I've heard about that, and that it's a major impediment to the adoption of new browsers, but I'm wondering how that gels with the (uncomfortable/awkward?) zeitgeist of Samsung.

I was under the impression that Japan went 'mobile first' years ago and their phones have been their touchpoint (no pun intended) to the internet from before the iPhone launched and that desktop PCs weren't a big thing.

Are SK residents using their Life Companions* tethered to a PC to do their day-to-day banking on a PC? Akin to iTunes?

*http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxys4/

We need to use IE for most banking/online shopping sites. So the market share of Windows/IE in Korea is higher than other parts of the world.

Most people have Windows/IE installed together with their preferred OS/browser, myself included.

For mobile banking the situation's a little bit better but it is cumbersome nonetheless.

I think the payment system in S. Korea has a lot of potential for disruption, but the current regulatory laws force the businesses to use ActiveX.

...the current regulatory laws force the businesses to use ActiveX.

Wow. Here I was thinking CFAA was a bad law.

> second only to Russia and the United States.

> China supplies the technology/know how to conduct such attacks

You have your bogeymen in wrong order it seems, if China is behind North Korea in it how can they help?

Are you suggesting that Russia or the US are supplying North Korea with the know-how? :P

1. He/she was only quoting the Korea Herald.

2. We don't have credentials on these "South Korean experts." I would expect that if they are not part of the military then they might have even less knowledge of what they are talking about.

3. North Korea is a bigger threat to South Korea than China is. That may skew opinions.

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