Monday 10 January 2011

Hackers 'celebrate' North Korean heir's birthday

Hackers "celebrated" the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's heir apparent Kim Jong-un with attacks on the country's Twitter and YouTube accounts. Users of DC Inside, a South Korean Web site, later claimed responsibility for the Twitter hacking, but it is yet unclear who hacked the YouTube Channel.

The first Tweet was sent at 7:20 a.m. Saturday from Uriminzokkiri, the username used by North Korea on Twitter and YouTube. It was followed by three other Tweets, all containing messages against the North Korean regime. The Tweet said:
“Let’s create a new world by driving out rebels Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-un!”
The Twitter hack came a day after the country's YouTube channel was hacked with a two-minute animated video, showing Kim Jong-un driving a sports car, running over people, and saying, “People are useless.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Free North Korea Radio reported that the site of Uriminzokkiri, which is also North Korea's official website, were under cross-scrutiny for failing to prevent prior hacking of the site. The new hacks certainly can't help their prospects for keeping their jobs, and perhaps more.

You can watch the hackers' YouTube video, cross-posted by a different account, below (it's obviously since been deleted from the official North Korean account).