On Wednesday, reports of the shutdown of the computer systems, including ATMs, of some major South Korean banks inspired stories of hacking by the North Korean regime. Several banks and other businesses shut down for several hours in South Korea, causing serious disruption of business and civilian life. News sources around the world speculated that these shutdowns were the handiwork of North Korea, which has announced its displeasure at the recent military maneuvers practiced by South Korea in cooperation with the US.  Some commentators, such as one from Fox News, speculated that perhaps North Korea had planted stealth disruptive programs in South Korean computer systems, and were triggering these pre-planted programs as a warning to South Korea. In essence, the speculation is that North Korea has perfected its own version of Stuxnet, the mysterious computer program which the US and Israel are said to have secreted into the computer systems of Iran. If this ...(Read Full Post)