Cyber defense to be under National Defense Ministry
Published: 30 Nov. 2009, 22:25
The Ministry of National Defense will form a new unit on cyber defense under its auspices next January, the JoongAng Ilbo has learned.
A high-ranking military source said yesterday that Defense Minister Kim Tae-young decided on Sunday to establish the new Cyber Defense Command under the ministry’s intelligence headquarters to protect the nation’s military networks against computer attacks. “A major general will be in command and it will have about 400 to 500 soldiers,” the source said. “By 2012, it will have settled in as a complete, operating unit.”
Initially, the ministry had planned to place the cyber command under the control of the Defense Security Command. But in August, the command came under fire for allegedly spying on civilians. The ministry then considered moving the cyber unit to the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Defense Command Communication Force.
During the National Assembly’s audit of the ministry in October, the Grand National Party’s Kim Jang-soo, former defense minister, argued that since the new cyber command would develop counter-cyber offensive measures, “It would reach beyond the operational scope of the Defense Security Command.” Kim also said the Defense Security Command could use the latest technology to investigate innocent civilians.
The military source said the decision to place the cyber command under the intelligence headquarters was reached “so that the new command could rely on a wide range of intelligence to prepare effective defensive and counter-attack measures.”
The Defense Intelligence Command, which collects North Korean intelligence, and the Communication Interception Unit, which uses antennas around the South to collect North Korean communication data, currently operate under the intelligence headquarters.
Cyber attacks in July that shut down several government and private Web sites, both in Seoul and Washington, prompted calls for the establishment of a command to handle cyber offensives. Won Sei-hoon, chief of the South’s National Intelligence Service, said late October that the North’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was the culprit behind the distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack.
According to military sources, North Korea is already operating a cyber unit under the general political bureau of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces. It is reportedly tasked with interrupting South Korean military communications and with damaging Internet servers.
By Kim Min-seok [[email protected]]
A high-ranking military source said yesterday that Defense Minister Kim Tae-young decided on Sunday to establish the new Cyber Defense Command under the ministry’s intelligence headquarters to protect the nation’s military networks against computer attacks. “A major general will be in command and it will have about 400 to 500 soldiers,” the source said. “By 2012, it will have settled in as a complete, operating unit.”
Initially, the ministry had planned to place the cyber command under the control of the Defense Security Command. But in August, the command came under fire for allegedly spying on civilians. The ministry then considered moving the cyber unit to the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Defense Command Communication Force.
During the National Assembly’s audit of the ministry in October, the Grand National Party’s Kim Jang-soo, former defense minister, argued that since the new cyber command would develop counter-cyber offensive measures, “It would reach beyond the operational scope of the Defense Security Command.” Kim also said the Defense Security Command could use the latest technology to investigate innocent civilians.
The military source said the decision to place the cyber command under the intelligence headquarters was reached “so that the new command could rely on a wide range of intelligence to prepare effective defensive and counter-attack measures.”
The Defense Intelligence Command, which collects North Korean intelligence, and the Communication Interception Unit, which uses antennas around the South to collect North Korean communication data, currently operate under the intelligence headquarters.
Cyber attacks in July that shut down several government and private Web sites, both in Seoul and Washington, prompted calls for the establishment of a command to handle cyber offensives. Won Sei-hoon, chief of the South’s National Intelligence Service, said late October that the North’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was the culprit behind the distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attack.
According to military sources, North Korea is already operating a cyber unit under the general political bureau of the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces. It is reportedly tasked with interrupting South Korean military communications and with damaging Internet servers.
By Kim Min-seok [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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