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North Korea Denies Involvement In "Righteous" Sony Hack

Posted by samzenpus on from the wasn't-us dept.

angry tapir writes North Korea's government has denied any involvement in the attack on Sony Pictures, but in a statement indicated that it's not necessarily unhappy that it happened. In a statement, the country's powerful National Defence Commission, which controls North Korea's armed forces, said it had no knowledge of the attack. The latest reports indicate that the hackers worked from a hotel in Thailand.

85 comments

  1. Righteous! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Information wants to be freed!

  2. I'd be curious about the consequences. by allaunjsilverfox2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    North Korea is already sanctioned pretty hard. I'm curious what happens when a nation state attacks a multinational company. Do the nations that said company is registered in team up to respond? Do they elect a body to deal with it? And if so, how large does a multinational have to be to elicit such a response?

    --
    Restore the madness of youth's lechery
    1. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by fustakrakich · · Score: 2

      Yakuza

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    2. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by Artifakt · · Score: 2

      A nation literally cannot attack a multi-national company in the way these attacks have happened. That's because these attacks now include physical threats against the citizens of other nation states. Those threats make no sense coming from a nation state, and just about have to be from some third party if North Korea is involved in even the 'cyber' part of the attacks. That's because the nation doesn't want to find itself in a war with other nation states and not just the corporation, or to get boxed in by making a threat they don't intend to follow through on and lose face. Bluffs are for when you are already desperately losing, not beginning.
                Do you really think North Korea could follow up on those death threats by actually attacking those people, perhaps claiming they were legitimate targets as Sony employees and not being killed as citizens of the US, Japan, or other states, and that those states should also ignore any other deaths that resulted as merely collateral damage? Assasinate a few thousand citizens and any witnesses, family members, and first responders and such that get involved, and act like their citizenship doesn't matter? The bodies that deal with such things are not elected, they are called by such names as carrier strike forces and joint combat arms taskforces.
            If the Korean government did pay for hacking teams, and sticks to just cyber-attacks, there's still some risk if they hit promiscuous targets or affect the various stock markets enough, but any involvement by governments would depend on whether Sony or Wall Street or whatever even asks them to become involved. For such non-lethal attacks, sanctions would probably begin with a UN resolution and individual states agreeing to participate in further economic restraints as they saw fit once that resolution passes. Sony would have to lobby various governments to support the UN sanctions if they can get more declared, and this gets to such things as taking out ads in many of those countries reminding their citzens that Sony is not just a Japanese company, and such preliminaries, before anything much else is done.
                If UN lobbying efforts fail (unlikely if there's any real evidence NK is involved), Sony would probably still lobby individual nations to act, but Sony can also go ahead with asking some individual governments to help with proving for certain just where the attacks are coming from, and not have to rally the UN there, so that's the one step they are doubtless already taking.
              Sony is actually allowed less independence in even trying to gather evidence that it was really North Korea than North Korea is in initiating such non-physical attacks, and in theory, Sony is the side that would have to be very careful not to have any malicious code spread to other parties and such, while a nation has more rights. In practice, theory goes out the window if the right US senators are taking a hit because of the Sony stock in their retirement portfolios.

      --
      Who is John Cabal?
    3. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by gman003 · · Score: 1

      There's not much left that can be done to North Korea, but there are some options.

      South Korea could shut down their part of Kaesong, and the handful of other cross-border joint ventures. That would mildly inconvenience the South Korean companies, but would seriously hurt the North Korean economy. South Korea doesn't really have any dogs in this fight, though, so unlikely.

      China could stop their trade. It's a drop in the bucket for them, but would basically destroy North Korea (particularly if they have farm problems again). But again, if all the other shit North Korea has done hasn't made them stop propping them up, I doubt this will.

      And of course, military action is always an option. North Korea's army is massive, but they're almost all just cannon fodder. Some analyses I've read of a hypothetical Korean war have South Korea annihilating the North before any of its allies can even get political approval. Again, though: disproportionate response to this incident, and it ignores the entire reason *why* China is propping them up - they want a buffer between them and South Korea (and the American armies stationed there). So any war attacking North Korea implicitly means attacking China, which is very much a bad idea. China's got a big army, generally well-equipped. Their only real weakness is an inability to project power, and when you're fighting on their doorstep, that's not a hindrance.

    4. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by Buck+Feta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A nation literally cannot attack a multi-national company in the way these attacks have happened. That's because these attacks now include physical threats against the citizens of other nation states. Those threats make no sense coming from a nation state, and just about have to be from some third party if North Korea is involved in even the 'cyber' part of the attacks. That's because the nation doesn't want to find itself in a war with other nation states and not just the corporation, or to get boxed in by making a threat they don't intend to follow through on and lose face. Bluffs are for when you are already desperately losing, not beginning.

      We're talking about North Korea. They are not bound by the rules of what a nation state "can" and "cannot" do. I agree, this would make no sense, but again... North Korea.

      --
      I am Audience.
    5. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      re " Do they elect a body to deal with it?"
      Legal Experts: Stuxnet Attack on Iran Was Illegal ‘Act of Force’ (03.25.13 )
      http://www.wired.com/2013/03/s...
      It depends on the experts asked, who funded what and why.
      Think of Sputnik. Nations thought airspace went up. Sputnik went over many nations but not much was said as spy satellites where going to be used.
      A lot of different nations now have offensive cyber-operations funding and contractors. No much is been done to question that new concept.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by Vintermann · · Score: 1

      Do you really think North Korea could follow up on those death threats by actually attacking those people

      Yes. They have shown themselves willing to do stuff like kidnapping film directors because the dictator liked them, kidnapping random japanese people for amazingly little in the way of reasons.

      Bluffs are for when you are already desperately losing

      Well, North Korea is, in most meaningful senses. But it's not so much bluffing, as it is giving the impression that you're crazy and could do anything. Same strategy some people advocated in the cold war, same strategy many leaders in the violent criminal underworld use. Crazy people are feared, that fear earns respect of a sort.

      --
      xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
    7. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by sociocapitalist · · Score: 1

      North Korea is already sanctioned pretty hard. I'm curious what happens when a nation state attacks a multinational company. Do the nations that said company is registered in team up to respond? Do they elect a body to deal with it? And if so, how large does a multinational have to be to elicit such a response?

      NK can do whatever they want because they're stuck to China.

      Wasn't long ago that they were threatening to nuke American interests and they got away with that cold.

      --
      blindly antisocialist = antisocial
    8. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like the Chinese did, the N-Koreans could send masses of infantery over the border. That is why the S-Koreans are kind of anxious not to hit the Northerners, despite all the claims they did nasty things. Like sinking a frigate.

      BUT - we all know how OUR propaganda paints our side as the "innocent", "good" one and much later we find out very nasty things like "Giant Lance" and "WMD".

      So, what gives ? Better simply put wax into your ears. That makes it easier if you later find out our side lide to all of us.

    9. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by flyingsquid · · Score: 1

      There was an initial round of finger-pointing towards North Korea, and now a bunch of people saying, hold up, this doesn't really make sense for North Korea to be behind the attacks. OK, it's not logical, but as as the previous poster argues, 1) North Korea isn't logical (or rather, they are logical but employ something rather different than the logic found outside of North Korea) and 2) what's the alternative?

      Internet security experts are of the opinion that this was launched by a large and well-organized group. That suggests we aren't dealing with a disgruntled employee, but with either a large criminal organization or a nation-state. This narrows things down considerably.

      Next, let's look at motives. If the organization is a criminal organization, they're going to be out for one thing: money. As far as we know, there weren't any financial demands. The hackers said "if you don't obey us, then we'll release data shown below to the world", but they never mention money. The group's name- Guardians of Peace- is also telling, and there's the bizarrely moral tone of the hackers. "You, the criminals including Michael Lynton will surely go to hell. Nobody can help you". They are doing this for ideological reasons. Of course organizations like Anonymous also engage in politically motivated hacking, but they're usually upfront about the cause and the fact that it's Anonymous, which suggests it's not them.

      Which brings us to North Korea. Again, it doesn't make sense... but this is a nation that reveres its dictators as gods and lives in a bizarre bubble of disinformation, lies, and communist mythology. Things that seem insane to us make sense in this communist Bizarro-world. Hacking Sony is bizarre, but this is a nation that starves, impoverishes and executes its citizens to maintain their grip on power... if they did it, hacking Sony was probably not even the craziest thing that happened that week in the country. And as for not wanting to provoke a war... these guys torpedoed and sank a South Korean naval ship killing 46 people. If that's not going to create a war, no way hacking Sony will. And the thing is, they actually *want* to go to the brink of war, but not quite over the edge into a war. If they can keep the tension ratcheted up they gain in negotiations with the outside world and can convince their citizens that the State is necessary to protect them all. It's like they're using 1984 as a manual: a state of perpetual warfare (or at least military readiness) provides a convenient pretext for anything the state does to exploit and oppress people.

      Last, the attacks bear striking similarities to recent attacks against South Korea, down to the skeleton-themed graphics that look like they're from some mid-1990s video game console, the tacky red-and-green text, the poor English ("Warninig" instead of "Warning"), and the approach of taking user data hostage. It's pretty clearly North Korea.

    10. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by ChromaticDragon · · Score: 1

      Regardless of "good-guy-bad-guy" propaganda, the remark that the South could clean up the North before the allies even got their act together is interesting - even more so with your comment about Northern infantry.

      It really doesn't take that much effort to do a quick web search of relatively recent discussions on the matter.

      There are likely many reasons the South doesn't want to start a war. But the threat of waves of infantry almost certainly is not one of them. The troop strength disparity simply isn't that strong. The active ground strength isn't more than 2x. Pulling in the reserves drops the advantage of the north to less than 50%. And here's the thing. The South can FEED and supply their troops. If it was Infantry alone, my money would be on the South.

    11. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by AutodidactLabrat · · Score: 1

      Wait. What part of "invading a nuclear armed nation" makes sense to anyone?
      This is not a case of Korea invading the Southern Provinces.
      This is a question of how to sanction Korea.
      And aside from a direct attack, there is nothing left the West can FORCE upon the Korean state.
      Without the threat of an invasion or military assault (and we know better than to do this to a nuclear armed state, right?) they have nothing to lose by making life miserable for the people they loathe, ie. Capitalists.
      So, try again. Try to think of something you can do which does not include the empty threat of military force as first, last or intermediate step.

    12. Re:I'd be curious about the consequences. by davester666 · · Score: 1

      But this is about hacking a large multinational corporation, largely funded via the use of copyright law, so obviously it is reasonable to use nuclear weapons on any person or group suspected of being involved in attacking them.

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  3. Poor Sony... by fufufang · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Using North Korea as a scapegoat was a perfect strategy for Sony. Blaming the attack on a nation state is way better than admitting its poor security practices. But North Korea has now denied the involvement, I wonder what they are going to do...

    1. Re:Poor Sony... by davydagger · · Score: 1

      call north koreans liars? in any case, it sounds like more fearmongering

    2. Re:Poor Sony... by cold+fjord · · Score: 2

      Blaming the attack on a nation state is way better than admitting its poor security practices.

      Those aren't contradictory, both can be true.

      --
      much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    3. Re:Poor Sony... by kesuki · · Score: 1

      but the mass media spin can be used to make north korea the perfect target. for sony it is not about the truth it is about the spin and damage control. their employees are all going to need lifelock until they can change their social security numbers and possibly names. at least the lesser folk might and the upper folk will need new telephone numbers. sony has a credit card company too.

      i have already seen the mass media jumping on the 'n korea' has uber hackers who get everything they want etc. these people deal with lies and manipulation. sure sony won't be able to connect and send data because of their reputation hit until the counter resets. just like home depot still is not sure how to do credit cards since using one there automatically makes your card company void you, same with target, now it is sony's turn to get blocked. who next? i don't predict the future, so i don't know.

      what i do know is windows doesn't require a password to log in to a computer and not having it internet connected means it doesn't work as promised. i have seen in the wild people who can't figure out a usb port and field techs have just reinstalled for them clean as if that solves the problem. i finally set up an admin account for me on her box, and gave her a new clean account and took away admin on that and her old possibly compromised setup, and i got her a usb keyboard because the built in keyboard was not working right.

      some people only deserve a smartphone and a bluetooth keyboard. sadly there is no real test for using anything more complex than a smartphone...

      --
      https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
    4. Re:Poor Sony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Should such a test include being able to find the shift key?

    5. Re:Poor Sony... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      It's a matter of perception. People are much more forgiving of a company that can't secure its networks against the intelligence services of a foreign power than a company that can't secure its networks against a couple of kids.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:Poor Sony... by Vintermann · · Score: 2

      But North Korea has now denied the involvement

      Oh, that's OK then.

      --
      xkcd is not in the sudoers file. This incident will be reported.
    7. Re:Poor Sony... by BradMajors · · Score: 1

      The messages from the hackers contain some grammatical errors. These grammatical errors provide a clue as to the hacker's native language. My guess is Eastern European.

    8. Re: Poor Sony... by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      I've convinced this was an inside job by either a contractor (that didn't get full employment) or some disgruntled employee. The hack was his/her payback.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    9. Re:Poor Sony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Should such a test include being able to find the shift key?

      Oh come on you big silly down moders. That was funny.

    10. Re:Poor Sony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The messages from the hackers contain some grammatical errors. These grammatical errors provide a clue as to the hacker's native language. My guess is Eastern European.

      Thank you for that insight, Sherlock.

    11. Re: Poor Sony... by fufufang · · Score: 1

      I think that particular (group) of employee is probably Korean. Based on the current flippant attitude of North Korea, it is the easiest to blame everything on North Korea, which is perceived as evil.

    12. Re:Poor Sony... by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Somehow OP got mod points to downmod this comment on his own post? It is hard to see who else would have bothered trying to squish a joke.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  4. One hotel in Bangkok make a Sony humble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or something like that

    1. Re:One hotel in Bangkok make a Sony humble by gtall · · Score: 1

      Murray Head, is that you?

  5. Hike insurance premiums by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Given the recent history of Sony hacks, I would expect some business insurance cost to skyrocket and make them contemplate reviewing their code base and spending a bit more on reviewing new code during development, since they can no longer claim (US banking system style) that the costs of whatever bad things might happen don't justify giving up outsourcing to homeless Indians.

    1. Re:Hike insurance premiums by meerling · · Score: 1

      That history isn't so recent, and Sony hasn't bothered to implement any security that can't be broken by a rhesus monkey with SADD (simian attention deficit disorder ) before, so why expect them to change now?
      (Disclaimer - Sony has a rather well deserved lousy reputation in this area for their past actions here, so I'm not likely to give them the benefit of the doubt for much of anything.)

    2. Re:Hike insurance premiums by BradMajors · · Score: 1

      Sony was sued over the PS3 hacking. The judge ruled Sony owes their customers nothing.

  6. Leak, not Hack by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The hotel was the site of the leak, not the hack. No details on the hack have been released, and from what I can tell, Sony may not have known about the hack until the release of the leak, from the Bangkok hotel.

    If anyone has more details, please share. Especially the confirmed ones, not the rumors.

    --
    Learn to love Alaska
    1. Re:Leak, not Hack by Spy+Handler · · Score: 2

      TFA (second link) says the Sony attack used similar components as the 2013 "DarkSeoul" attacks on S. Korean banks and government sites. Those were confirmed as originating from N. Korea.

      Add to that the other circumstantial evidence and it's looking more and more like the Norks are responsible.

    2. Re:Leak, not Hack by cyrano.mac · · Score: 1

      You really must be totally naive to take these reports as "evidence".

      It's not as if your department of disinformation hasn't been caught lying numerous times before...

    3. Re:Leak, not Hack by gtall · · Score: 1

      It also bears resemblance to the Saudi Arabia hack generally attributed to those well-adjusted Iranians. It appears likely that the Iran and N. Korea cooperate on cyber war. They already cooperate on missile technology.

    4. Re:Leak, not Hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sony may not have known about the hack until the release of the leak, from the Bangkok hotel.

      Well of course they're in Thailand now. It's winter in Korea. Every December Thailand fills up with Koreans on holiday. Nothing mysterious about this.

    5. Re:Leak, not Hack by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      So a public hack is disclosed, and parts of it are reused (if not in code, then at least in spirit). Should we be looking at DPRK as the source, or should DPRK be looking for a copyright violation suit against the Sony hackers?

      Or the hackers are for sale, and sold a new targeted attack to a new buyer, DPRK was just the previous buyer.

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    6. Re:Leak, not Hack by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      You failed to use the magic phrase "axis of evil" and excluded France from your incisive analysis.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  7. What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotels.. by Bob_Who · · Score: -1

    Unless, of course, you are David Carradine, in a pine box, wrapped in a wire coat hanger.

    Thailand's international tourism trade of sinful delights and medicinal therapies means that the hotel attack could be from anyone from anywhere under the sun.

    Its an all access, multicultural, public venue this is available to just about any business class passport holder on planet earth, regardless of their particular predilections or perversions, ulterior motives, shady dealings or illicit appetites.

    So in other words, its probably a criminal or spy or government operation. North Korea is unlikely, but South Korea seems an obvious choice since they have the most to gain from Sony's market share.

  8. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    North Korea is unlikely, but South Korea seems an obvious choice since they have the most to gain from Sony's market share.

    This is Sony's movie division, not much to gain from having that crippled. If it was their TV or electronics division you might have a point, but I don't think South Korea gets any benefit from hurting Sony movies.

  9. Does anyone know what GoP's demands actually are? by mark-t · · Score: 2

    [nt]

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  10. Kim Il Sung getting even by sound+vision · · Score: 1, Funny

    The real reason for the attack is that Kim Il Sung got hit with a Sony rootkit a few years back

    1. Re:Kim Il Sung getting even by eagl · · Score: 1

      Karma's a bitch, so is payback.

    2. Re:Kim Il Sung getting even by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually the one who got rootkitted was not Little Kim, but his late father, the Internet Expert.

    3. Re:Kim Il Sung getting even by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 1

      Actually, Kim Il Sung was Little Kim's grandfather.

      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
    4. Re:Kim Il Sung getting even by gtall · · Score: 1

      In a bizarre twist of relativity, it turns that Little Kim is Kim Il Sung's grandfather. This prevents the chestnuts from falling very far from the tree, and given the size of the Kim family's chestnuts, extreme care must taken lest they get overlooked and lost forever.

  11. Who IS unhappy about the Sony hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Other than Sony who doesn't hold a grudge against Sony, making them do a little happy dance inside whenever this happens? Lest we forget, Sony rooted a couple million computers back around 2004, something that would earn you or I about 20 years in federal prison. But nobody from Sony went to jail, and their penalty amounted to a voucher for a free CD (like I'd ever put ANOTHER sony cd in my computer) for anyone with one of the rootkit CDs. What goes around comes around fellas, and in this case Sony's getting a fairly moderate dose of backsies. They should be grateful that its just their stuff that got stolen, and nobody from Sony is getting tossed in jail.

    1. Re:Who IS unhappy about the Sony hack? by mark-t · · Score: 1

      If it were a harmless hack, perhaps... except it seems that the hackers are threatening the lives and safety of real people who happen to work for or be related to people who work for Sony. No matter how much one might dislike Sony for their practices, nobody deserves that.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    2. Re:Who IS unhappy about the Sony hack? by cyrano.mac · · Score: 1

      They're not threatening anyone. Their English is bad enough, you need to put some effort into reading the message.

      The real message reads more like "We don't know what to do. Sony doesn't feel threatened enough to pay us, now we're clueless how to proceed".

      I don't know how good North Korean intelligence is, but I hope they are better than the writers of that message. And even if it's been drawn up to look like it does, what would be the use?

    3. Re:Who IS unhappy about the Sony hack? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      GoP isn't making those threats, nor have they posted any demands that those threats allude to.
      The threats are bullshit concocted in order to make people sympathetic to Sony and its poor, victimized employees.
      The allegations of it being North Korea (over a fucking Seth Rogen movie) are also bullshit, intended to distract from the fact that Sony had basically no security.

  12. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by Bite+The+Pillow · · Score: 2

    A wise man once told me, always suspect ladyboy. Then, is only mild surprise when find you right!

    It's never been applicable before, and I hope to God now's the time, instead of yesterday evening.

  13. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by Spy+Handler · · Score: 1

    North Korea is unlikely, but South Korea seems an obvious choice since they have the most to gain from Sony's market share.

    That's the stupidest thing I've heard in quite a while. It's like saying Apple would hack Nokia to gain market share.

    Sony (the electronics firm) is in death throes and the last time they turned a decent profit is when Dubya was pumped for a Middle East invasion. Samsung alone makes more profit in a quarter than Sony made in the last decade.

    Sony the Hollywood studio is doing fine but there's no equivalent South Korean competitor that would try to steal market share from it. And even if there was one, destroying Sony's movies doesn't make your own movies do any better at the box office. Movie business is not like the smartphone business.

    And generally speaking, legitimate businesses that earn good money don't go around hacking into competitors' networks. The risk to reward just isn't there. Repercussions of getting caught would be catastrophic.

    Just a dumb comment all around.

  14. I actually believe them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It still might be North Korea behind this, but they are already a pariah state (a hermit kingdom if you like), and don't have a lot to lose by admitting that they did it (if they actually did). If they didn't do it, but don't mind that the hack happened, its a reasonable conclusion. It could always be that they are denying that they did it so that the outside world won't know their abilities (refusal to admit you have power and thus maintain a strategic advantage --if your enemy knows your abilities, they will alter their strategies to defeat you: if you deny advanced abilities, they don't upgrade and you win). Its entirely possible that someone else did this. China has a massive cyber-warfare division. They certainly have the means and determination to do this. Japan and China have been adversaries over islands in the South China Sea. They also compete in manufacturing and high technology goods. There is also animosity from World War 2 and post war animosity. This makes China a good candidate. But there are a large host of others (not least those who are upset with Sony's rough treatment of George Hotz, disabling much sought after features of the PS3, and adding root kits to music cd's). There are others too.

  15. I get it by slashmydots · · Score: 1

    A hotel in Thailand? I guess those in-room movies are really expensive after all if they have to hack Sony to get pre-release movies.

  16. imagine... by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 2

    ...how more they could have got if they stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
  17. The hack fits North Korean psychology by Required+Snark · · Score: 2
    This is the kind of retaliation that seems to fit the North Korean mold. It doesn't matter if they did it themselves or had someone else do it for them.

    There seem to be two general styles of politically motivated hacking. One is the NSA/CIA style: the goal is to get as much information as quietly as possible. One of the things that the Snowden/Manning leaks revealed is how extensively the NSA was able to do this.

    The other style is the highly visible attack. This is the kind of thing that the Syrian Electronic Army engages in. Much of what they do is intended to be high profile whether they claim responsibility or not.

    Despotic leaders like Assad and Kim Jong-il want to see damage and humiliation inflicted on their enemies. It's fundamental to their political strategy. They do this internally to victims of their regimes and externally to their foes.

    Rationally it doesn't make much sense for North Korea to waste this kind of capability on a single company. That kind of activity would be better used on a strategic target, say a western defense company or infrastructure in South Korea. (There have been attacks on South Korean banks that fit this description.) But Kim Jong-il is not a rational leader. Atacking Sony because of a perceived personal insult seem just like the kind of thing he would do.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
    1. Re:The hack fits North Korean psychology by Required+Snark · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I ment Kim Jong-un, not Kim Jong-il. Wrong mad generation of mad dictator.

      --
      Why is Snark Required?
    2. Re:The hack fits North Korean psychology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A simple mistake. It's unlikely that you had any ill-will.

    3. Re: The hack fits North Korean psychology by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that this hack had been going on since before that movie was announced.

      I wish retards like you would stop it with the "NK did it to retaliate over a movie" line. That's clearly not remotely plausible and I don't know how that idiotic idea started spreading.

    4. Re:The hack fits North Korean psychology by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      The Kim family is particularly obsessed with movies, propaganda videos and generally controlling every single cultural product - songs, books, publicly visible pictures and statues.
      It's an autocracy, necrocracy, militarocracy (I hope that's not too terrible of a word) but also much a TVcracy with a level of control (domestically and what gets out) that you basically can't get anywhere else on the planet (or maybe in Taliban-style areas, where they have to resort to banning all music and all pictures with humans in it rather than be able to leverage them)

      Kim Jong Il (not Un) was even a film producer and director or he styled himself as such.
      I don't believe North Korea was behind the attacks, nor can I deny it but Sony Pictures Entertainment is kind of a competitor to them and they like to have it humiliated, given their "criminal" attempt at defacing the Leader.

  18. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by Bob_Who · · Score: 0

    Sony (the electronics firm) is in death throes and the last time they turned a decent profit is when Dubya was pumped for a Middle East invasion. Samsung alone makes more profit in a quarter than Sony made in the last decade.

    My point exactly.

    Sorry to be obtuse, but my writing lacks the sardonic tone insinuated in the subtext. This is a response juxtaposed to the stupidity of accusing North Korea of the attack. If we're going to accuse a Korean rival of Japan, South seems more apropos because they in fact are beneficiaries of Sony's ebbing market dominance.

    And yes, this too is stupid. Just like the other stupid. Stupid jokes for stupid folks. Geez, that went over like a lead balloon.

    My sense of humor was way more appreciated when Sony was king, last century, before /.

  19. Publicity stunt? by kamathln · · Score: 1

    Possibility: Is this attack staged to gain traction on public's mind for the movie? Did they incur much explicit loss due to this? Just a hunch.

  20. Hax hax hax haxxorz hax hax hax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come see "the media" have a field day with teh sc4r3 w0rdz.

  21. If North Korea "were" responsible... by Karmashock · · Score: 1

    ... Sony should be deeply ashamed of themselves. This is like getting your ass handed to you by a drunk cripple. The guy might be crazy... correct that, we know he's crazy... but he has no legs and he keeps bumping into walls. If you can't deal with that... then take the Russian FSB's solution and just go back to type writers.

    --
    I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
    1. Re:If North Korea "were" responsible... by oodaloop · · Score: 1

      I guess you missed the /. article a few days ago about how good North Korea's cyber unit is. They're one of the top countries, after US, Russia and China. They're Chinese trained, and work in China where the infrastructure is a little better. Say what you want about the rest of the country, their cyber capability is significant.

      --
      Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
    2. Re:If North Korea "were" responsible... by Karmashock · · Score: 1

      Well, they're also insane so if that is what the environment is on the net, then you had better fucking cover your shit up. Because the NK regime has always been a chimp with a hand grenade. And no, that isn't racist. If they were all white and behaving the way they do... I'd say the same fucking thing. Suggesting it is racist is actually what is racist because it assumes racial inferiority. You made no such claims... but I'm so fucking tired of getting the PC shit thrown around that I'm just preemptively slapping it down just in fucking case.

      --
      I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
  22. This was a perfect opportunity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    North Korea's government has denied any involvement ...

    Considering Japan, like South Korea, is pro-American, this was a perfect opportunity for counter-intelligence. They should've said It was a IT assignment for their high-school students. This begets the question: Are Sony employees really stupid, or are N. Korean hackers and crackers really smart? What's Japan or Sony going to do?

  23. Not unhappy = Axis of Evil by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OMG, they are not unhappy, they should be mourning. As per the Bush Doctrine, this is enough grounds to declare war on them.

  24. It puzzles me by maroberts · · Score: 2

    How North Korea, a nation with what is one of the worlds most primitive computing/ internet facilities, has the ability to carry out what appears to be a sophisticated attack that walks away with almost every drop of data Sony has in its possession. Even a couple of random sympathisers should not have been able to do the job.

    Sony has not got many friends in the world, mainly due to restrictive copyright practices and DRM. It would surprise me less if some groups who were opposed to this had over a long period of time, wormed their way into Sonys network, and after being confident they could see everything, struck at an opportune moment.

    Or it could be Adam Sandler, highly pissed at the lukewarm enthusiasm with which Sony release another of his movies...

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  25. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by gtall · · Score: 1

    Unless it is just the S. Koreans still pissed off about Japanese aggression in the 20th century and the repeated insults like visits to the war shrine by Japanese PMs. Hate dies hard.

  26. does ANYONE believe ANY of this SLOP ANYMORE? by lippydude · · Score: 1

    "They're all lying! There was an article that said China did it for North Korea and then North Koreans from a luxury hotel in China, and now Thailand. What kind of experts are these when they can't seem to figure where it's coming from?"

    link

  27. From a hotel in Thailand by johnw · · Score: 1

    The latest reports indicate that the hackers worked from a hotel in Thailand.

    I hope they weren't being charged by the gigabyte for using the hotel's WiFi.

  28. The better question is by ruir · · Score: 1

    How do they know it was NK? Are they 100% sure of it? Besides probably being just a stunt, hey, lookie it was the bad guys, poor us...even if the attacks came from NK IP addresses or there are NK files...who knows if it was just an infected zombie machine used as proxy? And as someone pointed out, the grammar errors on the message points to eastern europe. This is a technical forum, people should know better than listening to probably fear mongering and political propaganda, look the chinese, russian and nk are the bad guys they are hacking us. Last time I checked Snowden, Assange and Maning where neither chinese, nor russian nor from nk. Something does not sound right here.

  29. It puzzles me by surefooted · · Score: 1

    Even with all the sanctions, North Korea still has the only thing needed to put forth an attack like this. Money.

  30. Walter O'Brien (Scorpion) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I know! SONY needs to hire Walter "Scorpion" O'Brien to track down the culprits! This could be O'Brien's great chance to finally prove he's been telling the truth all this time. lol.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_O%27Brien

  31. Hotel that can suck 100TB? by finiousfingers · · Score: 1

    I think I know what hotel I want to visit when I am on vacation. I am lucky to get 2-3MB at most hotels, can't imagine the 2-3 months it would take to suck 100TB.

  32. official statement by Trepidity · · Score: 1

    The North Korean statement itself is here:

    The SONY Pictures, a film producer in the U.S., has reportedly been attacked by hackers.

    The hacking is so fatal that all the systems of the company have been paralyzed, causing the overall suspension of the work and supposedly a huge ensuing loss.

    Much upset by this, the U.S. mobilized many investigation bodies including FBI, CIA and the Department of Homeland Security for urgent investigation and recovery of the system.

    We do not know where in America the SONY Pictures is situated and for what wrongdoings it became the target of the attack nor we feel the need to know about it.

    But what we clearly know is that the SONY Pictures is the very one which was going to produce a film abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the DPRK by taking advantage of the hostile policy of the U.S. administration towards the DPRK.

    We already called upon the world to turn out in the just struggle to put an end to U.S. imperialism, the chieftain of aggression and the worst human rights abuser that tramples down the universal rights of people to peaceful and stable life and violates the sovereignty of other countries, as well as its followers.

    The hacking into the SONY Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK in response to its appeal.

    What matters here is that the U.S. set the DPRK as the target of the investigation, far from reflecting on its wrongdoings and being shameful of being taken unawares. And the south Korean group, keen on serving its master, groundlessly linked the hacking attack with the DPRK and floated the "story about the north's involvement", an indication of its inveterate bitterness towards its country fellowmen.

    The U.S. and south Korean puppet group are all accustomed to pulling up others for no specific reason when something undesirable happens in their own land.

    The south Korean puppet group went the lengths of floating the false rumor that the north was involved in the hacking that happened in the U.S., a country far across the ocean.

    It should be well aware that it can not evade the severe punishment by the anti-U.S. sacred war to be staged all over the world if it blindly curries favor with the U.S. as now.

    The U.S. should also know that there are a great number of supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK all over the world as well as the "champions of peace" who attacked the SONY Pictures.

    The righteous reaction will get stronger to smash the evil doings.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  33. Fracture the Internet by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 1

    Disconnect China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and the "former USSR" from the internet. 90% of the Internet's problems solved.

    --
    Buck Feta. You know what to do.
    1. Re:Fracture the Internet by ikhider · · Score: 1

      That's right, only America has the best internet practices and it is the standard we all must unquestioningly follow. USA! USA! USA!

      --
      "SO we bide our time, waiting for a purer kick to bloom and the future is still bleak, uncertain and beautiful" -GSYBE
    2. Re:Fracture the Internet by buckfeta2014 · · Score: 1

      When was the last time you heard of China trying to extradite American hackers? In America, it's a monthly event.

      --
      Buck Feta. You know what to do.
    3. Re: Fracture the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're splitting up the internet, I'll go where the majority goes because that's where the opportunities will be. Enjoy your isolated network while it lasts.

    4. Re:Fracture the Internet by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Disconnect China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and the "former USSR" from the internet. 90% of the Internet's problems solved.

      You omitted Wales.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  34. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    generally speaking, legitimate businesses that earn good money don't go around hacking into competitors' networks

    Yes, there is no such thing as industrial espionage. Also, Santa Claus is real.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  35. Re:What happens in Thai Hotels stays in Thai Hotel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If there is one thing that both North and South Koreans can agree upon, it is "Fuck Japan".