The US and South Korean militaries are forming a bilateral cyber working group to jointly address increased threatening actions by North Korea online, the civilian heads of the two militaries announced Thursday. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo, in a joint press conference at the Pentagon with US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, said through a translator that the militaries will strengthen cyber cooperation “to effectively respond to North Korean Cyber Attacks and threats.” The working group is meeting this month to develop specific measures for bilateral cybersecurity cooperation, he said. “Just as we’ve recommitted ourselves to ensuring peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and throughout the region, we’re also capitalizing on new opportunities for cooperation at sea and in new domains like cyberspace,” Carter said. (See also: The North Korea Puzzle.)
After decades of building isolated, vendor-locked systems to run the Air Operations Centers that serve as the Air Force’s “combat brains,” the program office tasked with creating the next-generation AOC is working to fold those systems into a new cloud-based system.