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Hackers' Shutdown of 'The Interview' Confirms Coding Is a Superpower
theodp writes: The idea of programming as a superpower was touched upon by CS teacher Alfred Thompson back in 2010, but it became a rallying call of sorts for the Hour of Code after Dropbox CEO Drew Houston described coding as "the closest thing we have to a superpower" in a Code.org video that went viral. And if the kids who learned to code with the President last week were dubious about the power of coding, this week's decision by Sony to scrap the release of the satirical film The Interview after a massive hack attack should put aside any doubts, especially after new revelations that Sony had reached out to the White House for help and screened the film for administration officials back in June. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that the Obama Administration is viewing the Sony attack as a "serious national security matter" and is considering a range of possible options as a response, which could turn things into a contest of U.S. Superpower vs. Coding Superpower. In case it wasn't mentioned last week, remember to always use your coding superpower for good, kids!
"Coding" had nothing to do with theaters dropping the movie. What made them drop the movie was a terrorist threat that spoked a bunch of bean counters.
yathink?
Remember kids, if you're not paying for the service, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT THAT IS BEING SOLD.
Other than straight to video there is no where to release it to. Most of the theater chains in the US backed away from it.
What the fuck does emailing a vague and rambling threat of violence have to do with coding and superpowers?
I feel so lied to. No wonder he could beat up Superman.
Like how Iran hacked and downed a military drone in their territory?
It was threats of violence that canceled the movie. Saying coding had anything to do with it is like saying you should be able to patent something that people have been doing for ages, because your implementation is 'on the internet'.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
So this is a call for what - people to use their computer skills to censor viewpoints they don't agree with?
...it was the legal liability incurred by Sony after the "hackers" threatened actual physical attacks on movie theaters. Sony simply couldn't afford the legal and financial risk that even one theater might be bombed or attacked. The hacking part of it had no bearing on that.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
By this thinking, wouldn't threatening to plant a bomb would be a superpower?
They could take the loss on it and release it to the general public via bittorrent, more or less guaranteeing that it gets as widely distributed as possible.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Have pigs sprouted wings and started flying in your universe?
Like how Iran hacked and downed a military drone in their territory?
Sure, if you buy it. Just think about what it would take to actually do what they claimed - perform a controlled landing of an enemy drone controlled by encrypted satellite connection. I could buy jamming or maybe even gps spoofing (though military gps units can authenticate gps signals). I could buy some kind of EMP attack that disabled it. A controlled landing implies fairly complete access over the drone.
That and Batman had that Kyptonight ring....
LOL
And that isn't really an option either. Sony lost lots of HR and other PII data. If you work at Sony pictures there is a good chance the "GOP" knows where you live.
If Sony releases it at all and there any attack on its own employees they might also open themselves up to lawsuits for negligence. To say nothing of the fact that they might loose their best talent due to people being afraid working their makes them a target.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
Sony was going to release it up until all the major theater chains said they wouldn't show it. It's sort of hard to release a movie into theaters when none of them will show it.
So, Microsoft is a threat then? ;-)
Why the hell shouldn't they in this case? As others have said no theatre is going to carry it for fear of being attacked, and releasing it to the public anyway would send a clear message that they/we aren't going to be bullied. They and everyone involved with the movie would be regarded as heroes.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Telling people to use coding for "good" is a very subjective matter. Exposing corruption is a "good" thing, and when law enforcement and Government agencies ignore corruption or become complicit in the corruption, dumping this information to the public is one of few viable options.
Reading the summary (nope, I refused to follow these links) indicates that "good" from their perspective is maintaining the status quo and allowing the corruption to continue unchecked.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Well gee whiz then mister, they (and the U.S.) may as well just pack up and go home, sobbing, because the BIG BAD HACKERS beat us up, and now we're everybody's bitch. Great idea.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Hacking something on the Internet is one thing. Compromising SIPRNet or NIPRNet... completely different.
I wonder when businesses will stop trying to put band-aids on this problem and actually build a WAN between themselves that isn't the Internet, nor is connected to the Internet directly. It wasn't that long ago when the Internet wasn't the only WAN (DECNet anyone.) Maybe it is time for businesses to start getting leased lines, laying fiber, and creating networks that are well separated. For smaller businesses, ISPs could offer connections not just to the Internet, but to the business WAN, with ACL rules in place so if machines are not arranged to communicate with each other, they can't.
Again, this isn't a 100% measure... but it sure ups the ante to requiring physical access, especially if endpoints encrypt all traffic between each other.
As for malware, a decent IDS/IPS would have stopped those attacks cold. Some SANs (NetApp for one) can offer tools to look at logical drives and scan off-box for the bad stuff.
Are you new to planet earth and the way the movie companies work?
It looked like a middling movie, but now it's the most talked about picture of the year. I bet they'll clean up on DVD sales.
And superpowers? You act like breaking into somebody's computers, copying their private shit, then making bomb threats is something inspiring? No. It's not. It's criminal.
I am a little conflicted. I still can't say "good job" to people who break into somebody else's computers. Despite Sony trying to break into millions of computers. Sony is one of the most evil corporations on the planet. So it's kind of like get incensed that Sauron's ring got stolen and melted. I mean, it was his ring.
I'll channel Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka, in the scene where Violet Beauregarde is going to eat the gum that turns her into a blueberry and he mutters quietly to no one in particular, "No. Stop. Don't."
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
No one was going to blow up any theater. Stop being a fucking sissy.
Up until 9/11, the biggest terrorist attack was by an American, Timothy McVeigh. There are too many nutters out there who think their personal grievances justify killing "faceless people" to "make a statement".
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Yea Sony might as well pack up and go home until this thing is resolved. There isn't a lot they can do.
The U.S. on the other hand should recognize this for what it is. An act of war. Once the possibility of real physical violence and attacks were introduced it was no longer an attack on Sony Pictures but on society as a whole.
Its time for Government to step up and actually do one of the very few things its actually charged with doing, provide for the common defense! We now have a situation where a foreign actor is assaulting our citizens (putting in fear) and by extension infringing their rights of free expression.
What concerns me is that 0bama is figuring out a "proportional response" you don't "proportionally" respond to an act of war. This situation calls for a very disproportionate response.
We should do something like smart bomb Kim's palace. It would minimally impact the innocent citizens of the DPRK while sending the message acts of aggression will not be tolerated and will be met with swift and brutal reprisal against YOU, not your nation, not your people YOU. That is something a despot can understand and might actually fear. If we really luck he dies in the attack.
The Chinese need to be TOLD to just sit tight, lest they be considered conspirators in this attack against us.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
We're in a temporary bubble as society adjusts to technology. This, too, will end.
Futurist Traditionalism
If only there was a government agency that could secure American communications by ensuring encryption was secure. They could help find and track zero day exploits and notify the company's of said exploits to get them resolved. They could work with industry to help promote secure communications and identify weaknesses. It would be like an agency to promote national secur... Oh, wait...
Push the movie to the digital streaming platforms. Netflix, Apple, Amazon, Hulu, and others could monetize the hell out of the movie. While that won't gain the money of a theatrical release, at least they will get some of the costs back.
Being that Sony is Japanese and has had a few issues with North Korea in the past, I can understand their country being a bit apprehensive about the release though.
Place something witty here
It's easy to be brave when you have nothing to lose. I don't blame Sony employees for not wanting to be targeted.
congratulations you have just invented privateIP MPLS service.
Someone should tell ALL the major TELCOs about this, and anyone who has ever want to build a WAN link between more than two sides in the last 15 years, needing anything better than best effort service.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
The actions of all of the major players in this story make no sense based on the known facts. The threat by the hackers to cause a 9/11 style attack if the film was released had no credible support (at least known to me). I know lawyers are risk adverse, but it is hard for me to imagine how Sony could legitimately be a target of lawsuits if the attack actually happened (not that such suits would not be filed, merely that Sony should be able to easily get them all bundled into a few cases and dismissed).
The conspiracy theories which have been created to explain it fail to do so. The motivation they ascribe to those making the hard to explain actions are believable, but it is hard to believe that the actions taken would have the desired results.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
Even if Sony released it to 100,000 screens I still wouldn't watch it, because it's likely to just be a bad movie that I don't want to pay $12 to see.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I wonder when businesses will stop trying to put band-aids on this problem and actually build a WAN between themselves that isn't the Internet, nor is connected to the Internet directly.
It won't happen unless they hire people who have a lot of clue and know how to make such things work. Which is apparently the exact opposite of what they have been doing.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
I can throw a rock through someone's window, climb into their house, get a bunch of their personal info, and publicize it. SUPERPOWER!
I can put a tap on their phone line at the demarc box, record everything from their landline until they notice the intrusion, and publish it all. SUPERPOWER!
I can dig through their garbage for carelessly-discarded confidential papers. Heck, I can just count their beer and wine bottles, and publicize that. SUPERPOWER!
Maybe not the lamest claim ever, but it'll do for today.
Links are half the summary.
There were a good number of theaters that were willing to air the film, as evidenced by the chains that were going to air 'Team America' until it was pulled by the movie company.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
"actually build a WAN between themselves that isn't the Internet" - They have, this is how the financial system works.
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
It is actually astonishing that they have more than enough money to hire the best of the best, especially after the PSN breach, but seem to have not done so.
Blizzard is far smaller, but they have been chugging along for over a decade with the world's #1 MMO without any major breaches other than in-game exploits, DDoS attacks (which can't really be prevented if they are big enough), and individual account compromises.
I am not saying I have an answer for that.
This is not a First Amendment question because in this case a corporation that regards themselves in the business of entertaining people has decided that they don't want to risk releasing this movie right now. Yes, they are caving to a threat, but the movie is their property under Copyright to do what they choose, and they choose to not show the movie as of now. They could have just shown the movie, shown the movie but put metal detectors and guards up around the theatres, or maybe even demanded protection from the threat by the government.
There is a broader embrace of free expression in our society going beyond the First Amendment, and caving against the threat undermines free expression. But there is no law against giving in to blackmail -- there are only laws against taking justice into your own hands in acting against a blackmailer. We only wish, sometimes, that the Westboro Church, the book-burning Florida cleric, and the Egyptian movie-making dude would give in, and this wishing out loud by Administration officials gets pushback regarding First Amendment concerns, but there would be no wrong if those people had caved in light of the threats facing their free expression.
So (if presumably it was North Korea) threatened violence within our borders, they haven't violated any law because they are not under US law. On the other hand, such a threat could be construed as an act of war, submitting to such a threat diminishes our honor to the extent that free expression is one of our cherished values, and nations have gone to war over questions of honor -- many times. In other words, to cave humiliates us as a nation in our own eyes, which by definition, is a matter of honor.
Do we want to fight back for our national honor? Does honor, or the principles of honor in this dispute with North Korea rise to the level of risking lives in a war? I am not saying there is a simple answer, but when people say that going to war over "honor" is competely stupid, this example should come to mind. That North Korea effectively has veto power over what is shown for movies in US theatres is a question of honor (we will attack you if you show this movie) -- no one has died (yet), but do we want to live this way? But on the other hand, is a dumb Seth Rogen pic a cause worth dying for?
Sure the CIA can be trusted, however, it's not a generally good idea unless they present the evidence and it checks out. Why don't you think 'It isn't even plausible that NK is behind this'? Do you think North Koreans can't develop 'script kiddie' technology?
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
And yet, you post anonymously.
Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that the Obama Administration is viewing the Sony attack as a "serious national security matter" and is considering a range of possible options as a response, which could turn things into a contest of U.S. Superpower vs. Coding Superpower.
:D
NUKE THEM BACK INTO THE STONE AGE!!!!!
Bukowski said it. I believe it. That settles it.
True, and
Hacking != Carcking,
but does that imply Hacking == Coding ??
A: NOOOO!!!!!!!! (though this is in fact true!)
Bukowski said it. I believe it. That settles it.
Financial services and many other business already have such private connections. However, I've said for the last couple of years that the real security problem are developers (such as myself) who need high security privileges on both our own machines as well as production ones. What's more is that our browsing tends to be grouped into finding sometimes obscure downloads for administrative tasks and solutions for programming issues, which would likely add to the ability to target.. In reality the problem might not be the malware infested laptop of Marketing Sally, but Targeted Tim, the IT guy. While the real solution should likely be a OS that is more secure at least for IT and probably in general, at the very least people with too much privilege should use another PC running on different credentials for at least 'solution lookups'.
The force that blew the Big Bang continues to accelerate.
There was a cyberattack threat component, too. FBI warned theaters of possible cyberattacks over 'The Interview': The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation released a warning on Tuesday, advising theaters and other businesses associated with Sony Corp's Hollywood studio's film "The Interview" that they could be targeted in cyberattacks. The private document, which was obtained by Reuters, said that "anyone associated with the production, distribution and promotion" of the film "could possibly become the target of cyberattacks."
Large corporations have the revenues, population, and political strength of a small country. Countries may be starting to treat them like other countries, e.g. make treaties, or go to war with them. Examples North Korea versus Sony; Europe versus Google.
There have been movies about this, such as Blad Runner and Roller Ball where the world is ruled by corporations and nations are shadows.
Leadership starts at the top, especially with the man whose sworn oath is to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States". If protecting the freedom of speech doesn't fall in the list of things that office holder should be doing, I don't know what is appropriate. His inaction and lack of leadership on this issue is appalling.
Has congress made a law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances while we weren't looking? Or is it possible that you really should read your country's constitution before you try citing it?
Works for Batman.
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
That's the superpower at work here.
.
Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Anyone else read KJU in their head as "K-Ju"? Its like J-Lo, or J-Law, or .. you get the idea. I kinda like it. I just hope his nudes aren't leaked as retribution.
.
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Hacking != Carcking,
I think I'm going to need a car analogy in order to understand this. Or maybe something about Elvis.
How much coding was involved? I'm not aware of the mechanics of the break-in. It could have been pure social engineering. It could have been a mole. That doesn't involve any coding. It could have been spotting a vulnerability. People who do that usually do some coding, but such attacks involve a lot of analysis of existing code as opposed to creating new code. The actual attack may require code; but it's usually not a lot. So. "Coding" as the "super-power" behind the attack? Meh.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Dude, he was able to beat up Superman because he had brains. Superman was like the lifter on the beach, always showing off.
That and Batman had that Kyptonight ring....
LOL
Nope it was all hacking. It clearly ranks up there with super strength and speed.
On paper, that might sound viable to you. But it would pretty well result in NK attacking and lashing back out at anyone they could: SK, Japan, etc.. .. well, pure theater. But an actual military attack on Pyongang, hello WWIII, or at least the Korean War again.. And I'm sure the Chinese would just sit tight like good little dogs because the ol' USA told them to. The world is not that simple, do not let your emotions cloud your better judgment. K-Ju and crew (love that) will get their just desserts. I suspect we're going to hack back the fuck out of them.
Chances are the theater threats were
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
This whole episode is evidence that computer hacking should be completely legalized. If hacking was legal, some white-hat script kiddie from Nebraska would have found the security flaws in Sony's system a long time ago. The flaws would have been reported and fixed and would have been a whole lot less damaging to the country as a whole. Probably it barely would have made the news.
Instead we have to wait around for some country who has no regard for out legal system to hack our systems and find our flaws. Now North Korea looks smart, while we all know that there are hundreds of 16 year old hackers out there who probably could have done the same thing --- if it was legal.
Way to go lawmakers.
023AD01("Child", "Evil");
There was a scene where Bridges was coding something and said "I feel a little like Santa Claus."
That's a superpower.
The US has lost its first cyberwar to North Korea, I read in the newspaper today. I think it's utter bullshit. This is not a cyberwar between two countries. Nothing of relevance has been lost. So one major companie got hacked and they lost all their data and have to pull back a movie - how important is that? I think it is quite big, but nothing compared to war between countries. If NK could shutdown the powergrid, take over some drones and use them to attack the US Navy with just online hacking, that would come close, but this does not compare.
What's more is that our browsing tends to be grouped into finding sometimes obscure downloads for administrative tasks and solutions for programming issues, which would likely add to the ability to target. In reality the problem might not be the malware infested laptop of Marketing Sally, but Targeted Tim, the IT guy.
Very the interesting conclusions you have!
I invite you to perusing our blog with such many administrative task downloads at www.totally-legitimate-we-swear.com
Just because some vague articles and politicos point the finger at North Korea doesn't mean that it's true. I'm not making any assertions about the truth at this point, but we should be careful before jumping to (potentially violent) conclusions based on hearsay.
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/e...
"But in their initial public statement, whoever hacked Sony made no mention of North Korea or the film. And in an email sent to Sony by the hackers, found in documents they leaked, there is also no mention of North Korea or the film. The email was sent to Sony executives on Nov. 21, a few days before the hack went public. Addressed to Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, Chairwoman Amy Pascal and other executives, it appears to be an attempt at extortion, not an expression of political outrage or a threat of war."
Evolution: love it or leave it
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Thursday that the Obama Administration is viewing the Sony attack as a "serious national security matter" and is considering a range of possible options as a response
Just as I predicted: http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
Hacking, and the reaction to it from our Democrat elites, proves that North Korea is a superpower.
"The Chinese need to be TOLD to just sit tight"
Except who's to say the Chinese weren't originally behind this. "Guardians of Peace" was a term Nixon said to China on why we were helping South Korea.
Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
Poor Flash, sometimes super speed is not a good thing......
This is the stupidest conclusion I've seen in 2014 and I've had the US government and the WHOLE INTERNET aggressively providing strong candidates all year.
-Styopa
They won't because they aren't releasing it now, but likely will wait for the threats to die down before quietly releasing it in theaters. Then, they'll release it on DVD/Blu-Ray hoping everyone will want to buy the movie that North Korea threatened death if we watched. From the reports, the movie was horrible and so probably wouldn't have brought in much anyway, but releasing on BitTorrent for free means they make nothing. Holding for possible future means possible future income. Movie companies will always choose possible future money over no money now any day.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Does North Korea even have anything worthy of hacking?
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
With great [coding] powers comes great responsibility, to earn a huge profit for your labor.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Just what is the NSA up to here? Shouldn't they be busy heading off exactly this sort of thing? So what's their part of this action? That's right, they're busy facilitating the terrorists by weakening the security that could prevent this crap from happening so they can do the things they are never ever supposed to do. Screw protecting the country, they have law abiding citizens to spy on!
so is this when we deploy our "Kuang Grade Mark Eleven penetration program"? Maybe Sony should deploy some low-flying ultralights to penetrate NK's cyberdome and hack them back...
Ok so the largest theater chains wont show the film (not just because of the threats of physical attack but because of the threats of cyber attack by the same hackers that attacked Sony).
And it doesn't make sense to do a full theatrical release if the biggest chains in the US wont show it (because of all the costs involved with doing a theatrical release like marketing and advertising).
So why doesn't Sony just release it to every digital download store that will take it? (and any increased risk of cyber attack that might come from distributing the film) It wouldn't be the first time that a film originally slated for theatrical release ended up being switched to a direct-to-video release instead.
Are there legal issues in going direct-to-video? (e.g. contracts with the production team) Could Sony have been asked by the government not to go direct-to-video at this point? Are they still considering a theatrical release of some kind at some point in the future? Or are Sony scared that releasing the film in this way will result in further damage? (i.e. the hackers releasing information they copied in the Sony hack and haven't yet released but which, if released, will be even more damaging to Sony than what's released so far)
So by too many you mean less than double digits over the course of 20 years
Timothy McVeigh, who I specifically cited, killed 168 people, and injured almost 700. in 1995.
1995 is within the last 20 years, and 168 dead is in the triple digits. And that's just one incident.
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I don't believe the premise at all...
However, if coding is a super power; then, by my greying beard, I am a GOD!
Responding to this incident with a physical attack of any kind on North Korea or it's interests
Think about what you're saying in these terms: These North Korean hackers, even if sponsored by the North Korean government (which I'll actually believe) are deliberately provoking us, hoping we'll respond with some sort of physical attack. If we (the U.S.) were stupid enough to do that, these 'GoP' fucks would just sit back and say LOL I TROL U, Y U SO MAD? while the North Korean government would cry foul to the rest of the world (we're a tiny little country being bullied by the Big Bad United States again, pity us, pity us!).. and they'd be right. Also remember that the U.S. doesn't have such a great reputation out in the world anymore, frankly we've been assholes way too much and that'll take a long time to fix.
On the other hand, here's the 'proportional response' we should take: Hack the living fuck out of everything and anything we can get at in North Korea, then when they get all butthurt over it, throw up our hands and claim to know nothing about it (kharma, bitches!).
By the way I stand by what I originally said: Sony should release the movie anyway. There is literally no point in cowering in fear over any of these 'threats' they're making of terrorist action (which is what it amounts to) because they could do whatever anyway, and if they're really capable of carrying out their threats then what could be done to stop it anyway? Being cowards about it just empowers and emboldens the little shits.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Redirection.
This attack, no matter who did, it's an excellent material to be used against whatever USA needs at the moment.
Lisias@Earth.SolarSystem.OrionArm.MilkyWay.Local.Virgo.Universe.org