That the United States has been working to hobble North Korea’s missile programme through cyber and electronic strikes is important, but not especially surprising. Discussions of state-directed hacking often focus on its advantages as a form of asymmetric engagement, allowing countries such as North Korea to counter their relative military weakness. Though the US is infinitely wealthier, better armed and more powerful than North Korea, it is much more vulnerable in one regard: it is an open and democratic society and its citizens expect access to freely flowing information. So North Korea has an immense advantage over South Korea, the US and others when it comes to infiltrating systems to cause havoc or extract information. We know that North Korea understands this because it devotes so much energy to ensuring its citizens can’t see or hear any messages from outside.

Source: The Guardian March 05, 2017 19:07 UTC