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Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

mydiplomaticlife.com

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Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#121

Post by pcwalton »

BizarreByte wrote: post #22
victorbjorklund wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A big political enemy of the saudi family that been a pain in their ass (rightly so since they are an evil dictatorship) vs random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Not the same thing. Anyone can be killed in North Korea. 99,99999999999% of people are not on the saudi familys enemy list.

> random student that just took a poster as a souvernir. Let's not mince words here, he stole government property in a country with some of the harshest laws on earth. Did he deserve to die for it? No, but it was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

I don't think it really makes sense to talk about "laws" for places like North Korea, as it's not a rule of law state.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#122

Post by [deleted] »

mathsmath wrote: post #101
V__ wrote: post #53

I'll preface this by saying that I can't support this with a source, so take it with a grain of salt. An acquaintance of mine knew someone who worked in that German embassy. Apparently, the extreme isolation of North Korea also made it extremely difficult to have any kind of opsec inside the embassy. Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one. A few days afte…

Even in the US, nothing is technically stopping you from walking into a SCIF with a phone most of the time. We used the honor system. I would almost automatically assume that any SCIF in a foreign country was compromised to some degree.

[deleted]

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#123

Post by unixhero »

M5x7wI3CmbEem10 wrote: post #27
unixhero wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, if you could get in. I tried for 5 years in a row to get into my country's service. It failed. Pivoted to information security, hey at least I am a millionaire now.

may I ask if you have any career advice?

Unless you have broken software and hardware since the 1990s or 1980s, and then gotten a degree in management or engineering, my path is hard to replicate.

But I certainly can offer some advice:

1. Be hardcore and really interested in security. Read everything. Deep diving into networks, software, vulnerability, risk management.

2. Get a CISSP certifiaction, then maybe an ISO 27001 cert and then also something juicy from SANS (I have none of these).

3. Get an AWS or a public cloud of your choice certification

Also

* Cia triad

* Mitre attack framework

* Cis controls

* Nist framework

* Ise 62443

* Zero trust framework from NIST

Get work experience, projects, situations, grow and evolve

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#125

Post by edm0nd »

waterTanuki wrote: post #110

> There were a handful of shops that catered for foreigners. All transactions had to be in Euros as possession of local currency by foreigners was forbidden This stood out to me in the article, as most countries incentivize foreign visitors to use local currencies to boost its strength. However, NK seems to have long ago come to terms it's currency will never hold value, so perhaps they instill this rule to boost the…

Which is one of the main reasons why NKs nation state hackers go after crypto currency via hacks. It's the main way they can bypass a lot of financial sanctions against them and use that $$$ for their nuclear programs and other things.

They have stolen $3B+ over the past several years alone.

https://therecord.media/north-korea-cryptocurrency-hacks-un-...

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#126

Post by sho »

V__ wrote: post #53

I'll preface this by saying that I can't support this with a source, so take it with a grain of salt. An acquaintance of mine knew someone who worked in that German embassy. Apparently, the extreme isolation of North Korea also made it extremely difficult to have any kind of opsec inside the embassy. Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one. A few days afte…

I'm not sure what you mean about the NK situation making the diplomatic pouch an attack vector? Can you elaborate?

Fun fact, those "pouches" don't have to be a pouch or even a bag. They can be boxes or even crates and have been used for smuggling in the past, including drugs, weapons, gold and even - allegedly - people.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#127

Post by edm0nd »

netsharc wrote: post #3

The last paragraph talks about being cut-off and isolated. He didn't mention Internet or phones for private use, so I wonder if they didn't have that. I can imagine smartphones being disallowed, and even if allowed, limited to home WiFi...

I might have given them the option to use their own OS (Red Star OS) at an approved location but I highly doubt they would have been able to do any actual work on it, especially nothing official.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#128

Post by pixxel »

smcl wrote: post #54
FrancoisBosun wrote: post #12

I'm mostly surprised about the free admission of bribery: > However, I soon found that a bottle of Johnie Walker Black Label handed out at particularly frustrating moments made things miraculously happen a lot quicker. Oh how the North Koreans loved their whiskey.

Sounds like they loved their whisky

If you’re going to be anal, explain why:

“Whisky (no e) refers to Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese grain spirits. Whiskey (with an e) refers to grain spirits distilled in Ireland and the United States.”

Johnnie Walker Black Label is Scottish, hence no ‘e’.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#129

Post by bigstrat2003 »

77pt77 wrote: post #119
mathsmath wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even in the US, nothing is technically stopping you from walking into a SCIF with a phone most of the time. We used the honor system. I would almost automatically assume that any SCIF in a foreign country was compromised to some degree.

> nothing is technically stopping you from walking into a SCIF with a phone most of the time That is ridiculous. I've been to multiple embassies as a nobody and no electronics were allowed and this was strictly enforced.

I agree it's ridiculous (though not in the way you meant), but he is telling the truth. I don't doubt that there are facilities which are watched as closely as you describe, but not all are. I have worked in a SCIF where the only thing stopping me from bringing in a phone was the fact that I said I wouldn't, and I keep my word.

Re: Three years in North Korea as a foreigner (2021)

#130

Post by [deleted] »

V__ wrote: post #53

I'll preface this by saying that I can't support this with a source, so take it with a grain of salt. An acquaintance of mine knew someone who worked in that German embassy. Apparently, the extreme isolation of North Korea also made it extremely difficult to have any kind of opsec inside the embassy. Since anything could only be brought in through diplomatic pouches it created an attack vector of one. A few days afte…

[deleted]
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