Who would have thought that James Franco and Seth Rogen (and of course the wonderful Lizzy Caplan) would become symbols for freedom of speech?
Well as you ALL are aware, this holiday season Sony Pictures was supposed to release a movie titled “The Interview” where lovable fools James Franco and Seth Rogen were going to interview (duh) the one and only Kim Jong-Un! Then Lizzy Caplan and the CIA come around and ask them to assassinate Dear Leader. The movie offered a ridiculous premise, a fun cast, and some laughs at the expense of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Now let’s be honest, we’ve all made a joke here and there about DPRK. Everyone likes to pick on them, their not-so-secret tunnels, their nuclear program that goes boom (for the most part), and their many shenanigans. Unfortunately, it seems that “The Interview” was one step too far for Kim Jong and the Gang as they did not seem to find it as humorous as we find it or their ICBMs.
Soon enough, cyberattacks on Sony that led to massive leaks of confidential emails, coupled with the threats to anyone who goes to see the movie, ultimately led to the movie being pulled from theaters…put on the internet…put back in theaters…put back on the internet…and end up with more free promotion than any movie ever. (Maybe. Probably. Just a hyperbole.) Now if you ask the good ol’ US of A who dun hacked Sony they’ll tell you it was the DPRK and so the media since then has been having a field day with this, talking about IP addresses, internets, intranets, and all kinds of nets from “cybersecurity experts” who talk for hours without actually telling us what an IP address even is.
So in order to solve that pickle I say let’s talk about some of those terms with words we all understand all while we learn about the DPRK’s computer network and it’s corresponding cybersecurity!
Let’s start by looking at some of the DPRK’s networks. Say you’re a happy citizen of the DPRK that today has had enough to eat thanks to Dear Leader’s beach party that’s going on all the time (bonus points for 30 Rock reference); you go home and you boot up your computer and you have internet! Isn’t it great? Well, as it turns out most of the “internet” in North Korea is just an intranet that is heavily monitored, regulated, and censored by the government (and here I am complaining about Comcast).
What is an “intranet” vs an “internet” you ask?
Continue reading “The D Stands for “Derp”: The DPRK and Cyberspace.”
nuclearfarmboy.com 