A week ago, Kwon taakjoo had received a summons from the chief director. He had been enjoying a few days of rest after successfully completing his previous mission or at least that was what he was supposed to be doing.
However, he had spent day and night at the mercy of Zhenya, which prevented him from truly relaxing. After enduring Zhenya demands one after the other, Kwon Taekjoo finally thought he deserved a break, only to be called back to headquarters. Needless to say, he wasn't pleased.
"You called for me, sir?"
"Ah, you don't look too good. And your voice doesn't sound great either. What happened to you.?"
"With all due respect, sir, I believe the matter at hand is more important than what happened to me."
"Well, I'm sorry for calling you in during one of your rare days off,"
said the chief director, offering a barely convincing apology.
"It's an emergency; how could I complain about losing a day off? Anyway, what's going on?"
Kwon Taekjoo asked, with a bitter expression on his face, trying to get straight to the point. Fortunately, director kwak didn't bother with more pleasantries.
"Alright, I'll cut to the chase then. Last night, several national corporations and public institutions were hit by a cyberattack. The malware they use was similar to a Trojan horse."
"… A cyberattack? Didn't we just implement a reinforced security program to use it as well. Was it all compromised?"
"They were very clever about it.. they used the very same security program we distributed to break into the system. They embedded the malware directly into the automatic update file, so even if the program's monitoring detected it, it couldn't identify it as a threat.
As a result, all the affected companies and institutions has their servers taken down, with all their data fully encrypted."
Even after hearing director kwak's explanation, Kwon Taekjoo remained skeptical. The country's security was clearly in crisis due to the large-scale cyberattack, but fighting cyberterroism especially in the realm of cyber threats wasn't part of his responsibility.
Faced with this situation, only one conclusion crossed his mind as to why he had been summoned.
"Did this attack come from North Korea?"
Alongside china, Russia, and North Korea was a major player in the world of cyber hacking. Despite its isolationist and secretive nature, North Korea had developed its national operations to execl in strategic information warfare.
The regime claimed it was a tactical move to swiftly address involving international issues, but it was merely a pertext. Their highly skilled hackers targeted government agencies, military installations, critical infrastructure, business, and media, with South Korea their primary target.
A few years ago, one of South Korea's largest telecommunications companies experienced a massive service outage after its financial institution was infected with North Korea malware.
But Director kwak shook his head at Kwon Taekjoo's guess.
"I don't know if I should feel relieved to say this, but no, it's not them. Our cyberterrorism response team analyzed the malware and found multiple files extensions originating from Cuba."
"Cuba? But why would they…?"
"They're demanding 5 million dollars to decrypt the data from each affected institution."
Of course, they would ask for that. Recently, many hackers had been deploying ransom against the major corporations and public institutions, demanding large sums in return. They would even target financial institutions directly and extort cryptocurrency funds.
Some of them had organized into a group commonly referred to as the 'cyber gang' to increase their share of the profits from attacks.
Interpol had been working tirelessly to stop the cyber gang, but their efforts had been futile. Not only was it difficult to identify each member of the gang, but authorities in China, Russia, and other implicated countries like North Korea weren't cooperating in the investigation. This was one of the reasons why it was suspected that they were protecting the cyber gang.
Kwon Taekjoo shrugged, as if indifferent.
"Isn't the standard procedure to refuse such demands.?"
"Yes but the situation has become more complicated."
"Why?"
"Apparently some of the encrypted data contains confidential national information."
Kwon Taekjoo let out a long sigh. While it was clear that the criminals themselves were to blame, he was damm tired of seeing his country targeted time and time again.
"If we don't comply, they'll seek other sources of income. They might sell out information to North Korea, for example"
Director kwak responded, presenting the worst-case scenario.
Externally, North Korea and South Korea were still hostile toward each other. Even with occasional shifts in political power, any peace achieved was always short-lived and quickly gave way to new conflicts. There was no way the Cuban hackers were unaware of this fact.
"Even if we give in to their demands isn't it essentially the same result? Nothing would stop them from contacting North Korea once they've pocketed out money."
Suddenly, a recent news headline flickered in Kwon Taekjoo's mind. A report had indicated that a large truck meant for fuel transportation had been seen at North Korean nuclear facility. In response, North Korea had claimed that the truck was inspecting parts of a facility damaged by heavy rains.
But the explanation was unconvincing, especially given the upcoming meeting of the Republic of Korea-U.S. Security consultative council.
"Did the leaked confidential information include military data?"
"Correct. Much of the data involves military training programs, coordination plans between South Korea, the U.S., and Japan to counter the North Korean nuclear threat, and direct communication lines codes for diplomatic security. The most concerning detail is the dual contact related to the arms agreement between the U.S. and South Korea.
International arms trade usually operates through discreet networks. If those were exposed to the public, it would create significant problems, wouldn't it?"
"Yes. Very significant problems. Especially for those at the top,"
Taekjoo remarked with a sarcastic tone.
Director kwak let out a small chuckle at Kwon Taekjoo's comment. Even though these interactions were carried out discreetly, there was likely a long list of individuals involved in sharing the profits government officials, intelligence agencies, weapons manufacturers, and brokers. It was common, or rather corrupt, practice that had been so deeply entrenched for so long that it was difficult to point fingers at any person.
The issue was that, once that there were any disruption in the supply of arms, the country's national defense would also naturally be affected.
Kwon Taekjoo ran his hand through his hair, visibly irritated.
"So we're supposed to clean up there mess again?"
"What else can we do regardless of how we feel, our job is to protect national intelligence above all else."
"Well the problem is that we don't have a way to catch these Cuban hackers. How are we supposed to do something even interpol couldn't?"
"It wouldn't help to get tricked by the same method again,right? After the last major hacking incident it was required that all confidential information be embedded with a domestic spy program."
" A spy program?"
"That's right. The moment the hackers open the data they stole; it'll track their exact location if it had been designed as a malware to penetrate their equipment, we would have been discovered immediately. But since the spy program is disguised as ordinary data, I tell be difficult for them to realize something's wrong."
Director kwak pushed a tablet towards Kwon Taekjoo as he explained. The screen displayed a satellite map with a specific location on the outskirts of Havana, the capital of Cuba.
"They're here?"
"Yes according to our suspicions, we believe the attack was carried by the 'electric hammer'
"Electric hammer..?"
"It's one of the leading members of the most prominent cyber gang in Cuba. Our Analysis of the infected malware revealed the source code signature associated with the 'electric hammer'
Of course, we won't be sure it's them into you conduct a direct investigation.."