[The Assembly's Offensive]
“In a situation where the North and South are in a state of confrontation, it is clear that North Korea will retaliate if we carry out preemptive operations. How do you expect us to proceed with such irresponsible operations?”
Faced with the verbal assault from the assembly members, the Minister of National Defense mentioned the fact that North Korea was developing nuclear weapons, arguing that eliminating the rockets capable of carrying asymmetric weapons was in the national interest. After continuing their questioning until they grew weary, the assembly members turned their attention back to Taesik.
“CEO Kim, Starlink is the only entity in South Korea that possesses satellites. It seems likely that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) or the Ministry of National Defense will request support for similar operations in the future. Do you intend to continue providing such support?”
“Yes. If it helps national security, I am more than willing to provide support.”
The assembly members looked bewildered by Taesik’s answer, continuing to denounce him by claiming it would not help relations with North Korea. Taesik consistently replied that he would provide help whenever the government requested it.
“What a frustrating person……”
Some members, expressing their frustration at the answers given by the Minister of National Defense and Taesik, ended the public session and adjourned the meeting, stating they would conduct private questioning of the NIS and the Ministry of National Defense. As Taesik exited the conference room, Section Chief Choi of the NIS, having heard the news, was waiting for him in the hallway.
“CEO Kim, thank you for your hard work.”
“I apologize. Under the National Assembly Act, I had no choice but to disclose those facts.”
“It’s fine. The NIS will handle the rest.”
Section Chief Choi entered the conference room with the Director of the NIS, who appeared shortly after, and loud voices could be heard from inside. Since the witness testimony was already over, Taesik withdrew to Starlink. That day, the media published speculative articles claiming that Starlink had cooperated in operations within North Korean territory. The NIS immediately implemented media control, and the speculative articles were removed from the internet, but only after the fact that Starlink’s satellites had been mobilized for NIS operations had already spread.
After the National Assembly audit, Section Chief Choi Jae-ho visited Starlink in person to explain the background of what had happened at the Assembly.
“I apologize, CEO. With the presidential election approaching, some information leaked from within the NIS.”
“It’s alright. I intend to continue supporting the NIS if they need help in the future. More importantly, what has been decided for the future?”
Section Chief Choi sighed before answering. “A summit with North Korea is planned for this year, so we have decided not to conduct any more sabotage operations in North Korean territory. Now, there is no choice but to hope that North Korea does not develop nuclear weapons or rockets.”
Taesik, hearing that operations against North Korea had been halted due to political calculations, remarked, “If we just leave North Korea as it is, they will eventually succeed in developing nuclear weapons……”
“It’s regrettable, but there’s nothing we can do. The President doesn’t want it, so there is no other way.”
After Section Chief Choi’s visit to Starlink, the issue regarding North Korea disappeared from the news. While Taesik was finishing the production of satellites to be provided to Space Y, he received an urgent call from CEO Cha Youngjin.
“CEO, we are receiving a massive DDoS attack on Starlink Communication, Defense, and Aerospace.”
“What……?”
Hearing that an internet attack on Starlink was underway, Taesik ran toward the Deepmind building and asked, “Where is the attack coming from?”
“Excessive connections are continuously coming from the Chinese region and domestically. We still have room in our server capacity, so we can hold out, but your decision is needed.”
“I’ll be there right away.”
Taesik headed to the nearby Deepmind building, knowing that if the electronic map service were suspended, it would certainly hinder business operations. Guided by an employee, he moved to the server room. CEO Cha Youngjin was waiting for him, checking the rising traffic figures with his staff.
“What is the situation? If the connections are coming from China, is it an attack from the Chinese side?”
“No. We are currently identifying the origin of the attack, and it appears to be Pyongyang.”
“North Korea……?”
Hearing that North Korea was the starting point of the DDoS attack, Taesik presumed that North Korea was attacking in retaliation for the operation to eliminate their ICBMs.
“You said you needed my decision. What do I need to decide?”
“Our Starlink uses a network separated from the internet, so there is no problem with DDoS. However, the problem is Starlink Communication’s electronic map service. You need to decide whether to conduct a direct counter-attack on the origin of the provocation or to defend by adding an authentication function to the IPs making excessive connections.”
“Can we respond sufficiently with defense?”
“If we add an authentication function to IPs that connect more than five times and block them, we can reduce the traffic volume. However, the speed will likely become a bit slower.”
“What do you think, CEO Cha?”
“If we use the AI I developed, we can neutralize those IPs immediately. I don’t think it’s a bad idea to test our capabilities this time.”
“Understood. Proceed with the attack on the attacking IPs along with the defense.”
As soon as Taesik ordered the attack along with the defense, CEO Cha entered commands into the computer connected to the server and pressed execute. A moment later, the rising traffic decreased, and the graph turned from yellow to green. CEO Cha Youngjin wore a satisfied smile.
“What happened?”
“We are conducting a reverse attack. It’s what’s known as a ‘Death Ping’ attack.”
CEO Cha Youngjin explained it simply for Taesik, who was unfamiliar with hacking techniques. “We sent a command to their PCs that split a single connection into multiple connections, preventing the PCs from handling the resources. And we changed the addresses so that the zombie PCs would attack the opponent in reverse.”
As the traffic volume decreased, Taesik continued to ask questions about things he was curious about.
“I understand China, but what about the attacks coming from within the country?”
“It seems that computers not in use at government offices or PC cafes were used for the attack.”
“It’s fine for now, but what about the future?”
“If we add the authentication function, it will be impossible to increase traffic, so it will be fine.”
“What will happen to North Korea’s attack origin?”
“Just like us, their traffic volume will have increased, and they won’t be able to connect.”
“Is there no way to destroy them completely?”
“It’s possible, but the results won’t be worth the effort. At most, it would only reach the level of destroying the PCs in question.”
Just as they were finishing up with North Korea’s attack at Deepmind, a call came in from NIS Section Chief Choi Jae-ho.
“I heard that North Korea’s DDoS attack is underway. Are there any damages?”
“Fortunately, we succeeded in defending. We are currently in the stabilization phase.”
“That’s a relief. DDoS attacks are also underway against other defense companies besides Starlink, and some defense companies have had their websites paralyzed.”
“Are there any plans for retaliation at the NIS level?”
“Unfortunately, retaliation is limited if we cannot pinpoint the origin of the attack. We confirmed the IP up to China, but we haven’t been able to confirm where the final order was issued.”
Taesik hung up the phone after hearing the NIS’s hesitant stance despite North Korea’s DDoS attack, and CEO Cha casually spoke to Taesik.
“CEO, would you like to try hacking for the first time in a while?”
“Yes……? Is hacking North Korea possible?”
“It’s only possible if the North Korean guys are using the network modems I’ve already breached, but shall we try?”
When Taesik nodded, CEO Cha Youngjin clicked his file on his laptop and began typing on the keyboard. A moment later, with a shout of success, he clicked something.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know either. I brought a file that was on the PC we attempted to hack……”
When CEO Cha executed the file, it appeared on the laptop screen. It specified the code names and the division of labor for the hacking, and the names of the cities where the agents with those code names were located were displayed.
“Isn’t this information about the North Korean agents mobilized for the hacking?”
“I think so. There is also information about the IPs that attacked from China today.”
The two of them looked bewildered.
“CEO, what should we do with this?”
“It’s useless content even if we keep it. For now, please hand the information over to the NIS.”
Taesik immediately called Section Chief Choi Jae-ho, told him it was information extracted from a PC presumed to be the origin of the attack through hacking, and handed over the data, telling him the NIS should utilize it.
When evening came after finishing the hacking attack, the news reported that domestic defense companies had been hit by hacking attacks along with DDoS attacks, and that some technical data held by the defense companies had been leaked. The Defense Security Command and the NIS jointly inspected the defense companies for hacking damage and confirmed the damage situation at Starlink Defense and Aerospace. While there was no leakage of military technical data, it was confirmed that business-related data had been leaked through email hacking. Other defense companies had some production drawings leaked, and the Defense Security Command issued a warning to those companies. After being notified of the facts, Taesik emphasized the importance of security to his employees once again and prohibited the exchange of important content via email.
Section Chief Choi, who received the data hacked by CEO Cha, brought good news a few days later.
“CEO Kim! I’m calling because I have good news.”
“Good news, you say?”
“We sent our staff to the locations in the data you gave us, and since the North Korean agents were conducting operations there, we arrested them in cooperation with the Chinese public security. We found the programs and evidence used for the hacking on the PCs seized at the scene, and we sent an official letter of protest to the North Korean side.”
“Isn’t it meaningless to catch those people? We won’t even be compensated for the damage we received……”
“Still, just catching them is a big deal. We missed the agents in other locations and only caught the agents in Shenyang, China, but it is significant just to have shown our capabilities to North Korea.”
“What about the damage to other companies besides Starlink? The media said some technical data was leaked……”
“More data was leaked than I thought. Fortunately, it’s at a level where production is impossible, so that’s a relief, but large-scale countermeasures will be announced soon.”
“We should also establish separate countermeasures. Is there anything we need to supplement?”
“Starlink has no problems with computer system security, but you should pay attention to document security and security education for employees. In this case as well, it was leaked while exchanging business-related external secrets via email. I think it would be good to warn them to use company email instead of personal email.”
After receiving Section Chief Choi’s call, Taesik immediately called CEO Park In-tak of Defense and CEO Jo Yun-je of Aerospace, instructing them to prepare security measures for each company and taking measures to restrict access to anything other than company email. After Taesik’s appearance at the National Assembly, South Korea entered an election to select a new president, and as a politician from the Dae-a Group was elected president, Taesik received a visit from Executive Director Jeong Jae-hoon of Dae-a Motors.