Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told NBC’s Meet the Press that North Korea is more likely to launch a massive cyber attack against U.S. targets than it is to try direct military action.
“A kinetic threat against the United States right now I don’t think is likely, but certainly a cyber threat,” Kelly said in a preview clip released Friday.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has pulled in BAE systems to create a system that can detect an attack and create an alternative communications network, but no indication has been given for plans to harden critical power infrastructure.
The United States and North Korea have been engaged in a cyber war for years trading jabs on infrastructure, entertainment companies.
A U.S. cyber attack was blamed for a countrywide outage of North Korea’s internal internet in 2014.
In 2015 North Korea was hit with sanctions after hacking Sony Entertainment in hopes of preventing the release of a comedy movie that made fun of former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
Recent speculation on North Korea’s failed missile launches has blamed the technical glitches on “left-of-launch” hacks of the missiles guidance software by the United States.
Kelly’s interview will air Sunday on NBC.
