Spy tools found in North Korea Software

North Korea's homegrown computer operating system mirrors its political one, according to two German researchers who have delved into the code: A go-it-alone approach, a high degree of paranoia and invasive snooping on users.

Kim Jong-un and friends are too afraid to buy into Windows or Apple Mac licenses like most foreign governments.

Their investigation, the deepest yet into the country’s Red Star OS, illustrates the challenges Pyongyang faces in trying to embrace the benefits of computing and the internet while keeping a tight grip on ideas and culture.

The operating system is not just the pale copy of western ones that many have assumed, said Florian Grunow and Niklaus Schiess of the German IT security company ERNW, who downloaded the software from a website outside North Korea and explored the code in detail.

This latest version, written around 2013, is based on a version of Linux called Fedora and has eschewed the previous version's Windows XP feel for Apple's OSX - perhaps a nod to leader Kim Jong Un, who like his father has been photographed near Macs.

According to the Researchers, there is no sign in the operating system of the kinds of cyber-attack capability North Korea has been accused of.

“It really looks like they’ve just tried to build an operating system for them, and give the user a basic set of applications,” Grunow said. That includes a Korean word processor, a calendar and an app for composing and transcribing music.

North Korea is not the only country to try to develop a bespoke operating system. Cuba has National Nova, and China, Russia and others have also tried to build their own.

By Ruchi Singh

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com

Spy tools found in North Korea Software

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