GOP and Coastal Border Security Systems Were Both Inadequate

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[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Amid controversy over the GOP (General Outpost) scientific surveillance system not functioning during the 'Fence Defection' incident on the eastern front of Gangwon Province, malicious code designed to leak military secrets was also discovered in the maritime and coastal surveillance systems.

On the 26th, Ha Tae-kyung, a member of the People Power Party, stated, "According to the '(Ministry of National Defense's) maritime and coastal surveillance system vulnerability inspection results,' the Military Security Support Command (MSSC) confirmed that a Chinese company secretly embedded malicious code that steals military secrets before delivering the CCTN to the military," adding, "Malicious code was found in all 215 surveillance devices delivered, and emergency measures are underway."

This malicious code was also linked to sites that distribute multiple other malicious codes through a backdoor. A backdoor refers to a pathway that allows unauthorized access to a system by specific individuals without any security authentication. Additionally, serious security vulnerabilities were reported, including ▲the ability to arbitrarily change storage paths to save video information to PCs or other devices ▲internet networks (ftp, telnet, etc.) being open for remote access, making it easy for outsiders to infiltrate the system. All of these are violations of the 'National Information Security Basic Guidelines' that could hand over entire military secrets.

Representative Ha said, "This is the first time malicious code has been found in military surveillance equipment," and emphasized, "An urgent full inspection of all military surveillance equipment is necessary to determine whether the currently operated surveillance devices are handing over military secrets entirely to external parties."

In response, the Army stated, "The Ministry of National Defense audit last October found no security vulnerabilities in Chinese-made parts such as pan-tilt devices, but one IP address with a history of distributing 'malicious code,' not the 'malicious code' itself, was identified on the CCTV management webpage and has been deleted."

Meanwhile, problems were also found in the scientific surveillance system composed of optical fences (barbed wire detection sensors) disclosed by the military authorities the day before. The optical fence installed at the front-line GOP works on the principle of sounding an alarm when a person or animal crosses or cuts the fence, playing a crucial role in the immediate deployment of surveillance troops. However, when a North Korean male identified as Mr. A, weighing about 50kg and known as a former gymnast, jumped over the GOP fence in the Goseong area on the 3rd, the alarm did not sound. This exposed the fundamental limitations of the scientific surveillance system, which the military had regarded as 'all-powerful.' It was found that despite being vulnerable to external factors, the system, completed around 2015-2016, had never been inspected even once since its installation.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, "A detailed analysis of the optical fence following the defection incident of a North Korean resident revealed that a screw, a key component of the 'upper detection trigger,' was loose at the time, causing a functional defect, which is presumed to be why the alarm did not sound."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.