Cybersecurity

Nuclear war isn't North Korea's only threat

North Korea has invested heavily in cyberattack operations to disrupt its Western enemies. Western Intelligence services blamed the 2014 attack against Sony on North Korea's spy agency, the Reconnaissance General Bureau. North Korea is also believed to be responsible for the cyber heist at Bangladesh's central bank and the global WannaCry ransomware attackfrom earlier this year.

Pyongyang's cyberspies conduct low-cost, high-impact, deniable attacks around the world to harm enemies, disrupt the West and steal money. Financial institutions are particularly at risk of theft as North Korea bleeds funds to support its nuclear program.

The goal for North Korea's cyberattack operations, beyond flying under the radar, is to inflict death by a thousand cuts -- a deliberate and organized disrupt-and-attack approach in line with the country's national strategy. Arguably, the more money and resources North Korea can steal via cyberattacks, the stronger its kinetic military can become.