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Sony Reportedly Is Using Cyber-Attacks To Keep Leaked Files From Spreading
HughPickens.com writes Lily Hay Newman reports at Slate that Sony is counterhacking to keep its leaked files from spreading across torrent sites. According to Recode, Sony is using hundreds of computers in Asia to execute a denial of service attack on sites where its pilfered data is available, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Sony used a similar approach in the early 2000s working with an anti-piracy firm called MediaDefender, when illegal file sharing exploded. The firm populated file-sharing networks with decoy files labeled with the names of such popular movies as "Spider-Man," to entice users to spend hours downloading an empty file. "Using counterattacks to contain leaks and deal with malicious hackers has been gaining legitimacy," writes Newman. "Some cybersecurity experts even feel that the Second Amendment can be interpreted as applying to 'cyber arms'."
Then they are no better than those that hacked into their systems, and should be prosecuted like any criminal hacker
Those that have helped them in this, should be prosecuted as accessories.
Or, if what SONY is doing is acceptable, Than it was okay for those that hacked SONY to do what they did.
The law applies to all, big and small.
Sony doesn't just poke the hornets nest, they go balls deep and windmill
If this is going to be the M.O. of companies that thing the internet is their plaything and they can do whatever they want then the biggest inovation since planes is going to be dead. The internet if constantly hacked is going to be more than useless. The big players always want to criminalize hacking and file shareing etc but when they are incompetant its ok for them to disregard the DMCA and crack others sites and totally try to trash the usefullness of the internet. These companies need to die. fuck them all. fuck the US Government as well and fuck Beta.
> Some cybersecurity experts even feel that the Second Amendment can be interpreted as applying to 'cyber arms'."
Uh huh... the 2nd amendment says I have the right to defend myself. That means I can own guns to defend myself when I'm being attacked... PHYSICALLY.
The proper analogy is that I have the right to secure my computer systems from being hacked by malcontents or governments (or both).
It does not give me the right to go over to the local printing press and blow them up if they're xeroxing my naked selfies. That's not defense, that's just vandalism.
Good lord can this world get any dumber...
but where can I find this juicy info? What the the websites being attacked by Sony?
As competent as Sony has been with security lately, I'd guess they are using DDS attacks against The Pirate Bay.
"No real evidence"
Anyone with half a brain can use map.ipviking.com and watch the shit happen. There's your evidence.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
So it's strange, I have completely mixed feelings about this. If Sony is using such borderline techniques to try and prevent people from downloading torrents of PII data pilfered from their servers such as SSNs, tax returns, W2s, celebrity phone numbers, etc, then I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. This may be slightly over the line, but if it is to protect the data belonging to outside people, then I am inclined to view it more favorably.
If, on the other hand, this is about preventing the latest ZOMG HD SCREENER TORRENT of their most popular film from being shared one more time, I view such activities much less favorably.
There is probably not a legal distinction between protecting future profits and protecting the private data of one's employees, but it certainly makes me struggle with how to view this..
The rootkit was far worse than this. The only reason it wasn't a huge PR disaster is that most non-techies have no idea what it was.
That and the invidious notion that 'consumers' really don't need or deserve control over their devices is fairly alarmingly entrenched. Even when the system in question isn't one that you 'licensed and not sold' to the sucker, you can have your merry way with them in ways that you'd never get away with in the context of real property.
If infiltration and covert execution of a rootkit were treated even as seriously as, say, physical trespass, Sony would have had a problem. As it was, the response was along the lines of "Well, yes, you have a trespasser; but we can hardly make a case out of it unless you can prove that he is otherwise making a nuisance of himself or something."
the second amendment allows people to own firearms, but not to use firearms. so sony has it backwards. right now they are using firearms but don't own them. think much?
The interesting thing is that, if they are using outsourced servers strategically located in Asia to avoid the long arm of the law, that people should be able attack those same servers and do pretty much anything they want to them without fear of consequences. Being beyond the law is a double edged sword, and I personally would not bet against all the hackers on the Internet in that fight...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
Did Sony make fun of your small peepee?
The law applies to all, big and small.
Which jurisdiction or period in time are you referring to? I can't think of a single example where this is true.
Pretending life is the same as fantasy is a sign of mental illness.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Pirate Bay? Knowing Sony they are attacking themselves. The battles between their electronics and media divisions have been pretty comic over the years...
Do you understand the "why" of stand your ground and castle? It is an extension of self defense justifications. Self defense justifications are for protection against crimes that result in intentional, direct, grievous harm to a specific person; things like rape and murder. Online interactions just don't bear those consequences in any normal case (maybe at some point for connected medical implants); certainly not in the case of Sony protecting itself from monetary loss. Anyone trying to extend SYG or castle that direction is undermining the entire justice system. SYG, castle, and self defense exist because the justice system is not fast enough to protect victims from irreversible damage from the most heinous of crimes. Property loss can wait on investigation, prosecution, and judgement.