North Korea’s Cyber Operations: Strategy and Responses

This report presents an open source analysis of North Korea’s cyber operations capabilities and its strategic implications for the United States and South Korea. The purpose is to mitigate the current knowledge gap among various academic and policy communities on the topic by synthesizing authoritative and comprehensive open source reference material. The report is divided into three chapters, the first chapter examining North Korea’s cyber strategy. The authors then provide an assessment of North Korea’s cyber operations capabilities by examining the organizational structure, history, and functions of North Korea’s cyber units, their supporting educational training and technology base, and past cyber attacks widely attributed to North Korea. This assessment is followed by a discussion on policy implications for U.S. and ROK policymakers and the larger security community.