With a budding arsenal of cyberweapons and a growing number of digital warriors, North Korea can allegedly shutdown websites. Alter bank records thousands of miles away. Cancel the release of a Hollywood movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This sounds like a potent threat needing immediate attention, but lawmakers and experts warn that discussing cybersecurity during a planned June 12 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could spell doom for President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe nuclear topic is far too important on its own to bring cyber in, at this point,\u201d said Jason Healey, a former White House official in the Bush administration and professor at Columbia University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, North Korean cyber prowess appears to have grown to new heights. In late 2017, the Trump administration blamed North Korea for the WannaCry cyberattack, which affected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, lawmakers and experts were skeptical of broadening the scope of the Trump-Kim talks to cybersecurity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States Institute of Peace\u2019s Joseph Yun advised prioritizing denuclearization and against attempting too much. \u201cI really think it would be a mistake to overload the agenda,\u201d Yun said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a domain where the rules of engagement are largely unwritten, creating a roadmap for cyberconflict may limit American offensive capabilities. That may be a non-starter, according to Ross Rustici, Senior Director of Intelligence Services for Cybereason, a security company based out of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe United States and the world in general is unwilling to limit their own cyber capabilities,\u201d Rustici said, warning that discussing cyberconflict may throw a \u201cwildcard\u201d into already tense negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf North Korea\u2019s cyber program was going to be reined in, it would be through a demand to reduce operations through China. I don\u2019t see that pressure being great enough to have that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitol Hill push a nuclear focus<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked Tuesday if North Korea\u2019s cyber capabilities needed to be part of the denuclearization talks, Senate Armed Services Cyber Subcommittee Chairman Mike Rounds, R-SD., was blunt: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Rounds said the cyberthreat is best tackled more broadly, with a strong deterrence capability. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to have rogue nations out there interfering with our ability to communicate and use our internet and our systems, we need to address that,\u201d said Rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, said the June 12 summit could include a diverse set of topics even though it is headlined by discussions of conventional weapons. \u201cHuman rights should be brought up, cyber absolutely should be brought up. But the bottom line is denuclearization,\u201d Gardner told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are anywhere between 3,000 and 6,000 hackers working directly for the North Korean government, according to a 2015 report from the Center for Naval Analyses. North Korea\u2019s cyberoperations are headquartered in the Reconnaissance General Bureau.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In response to questions from Fifth Domain, a spokesman for the National Security Council left open the possibility that Trump could discuss North Korean cyber prowess. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to get ahead of the president on the agenda,\u201d Marc Raimondi said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December 2017, then-White House homeland security advisor Tom Bossert wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that North Korea \u201cis increasingly using cyberattacks to fund its reckless behavior and cause disruption across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMr. Trump has already pulled many levers of pressure to address North Korea\u2019s unacceptable nuclear and missile developments, and we will continue to use our maximum pressure strategy to curb Pyongyang\u2019s ability to mount attacks, cyber or otherwise,\u201d Bossert stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Experts and lawmakers warn that discussing cybersecurity during a planned summit with North Korea could backfire for President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":46852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[106,29,32],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2917,3331],"class_list":["post-19238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NXODKQGJE5FKPAGVYEYI3EAXBA","arc_canonical_url":"\/international\/2018\/06\/05\/trump-warned-not-to-bring-up-cyber-at-korea-summit\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n