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US Slaps Sanctions On North Korea After Sony Cyberattack

wiredmikey writes: The United States imposed financial sanctions Friday on North Korea and several senior government officials in retaliation for a cyber attack on Sony Pictures. President Obama said he ordered the sanctions because of "the provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies (PDF) of the Government of North Korea, including its destructive, coercive cyber-related actions during November and December 2014." The activities "constitute a continuing threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," he added, in a letter to inform congressional leaders of his executive order. The new measures allow the Treasury Department "to apply sanctions against officials of the Government of North Korea and the Workers' Party of Korea, and persons determined to be owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of" these bodies.

44 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by HBI · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since the place is locked up as tight as Tibet once was, it's hard to imagine subsidies doing much. But yay for empty gestures!

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
  2. i heard that Sony hack was insiders by FudRucker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    not north korea, is slashdot becoming just another source for government misinformation and propaganda???

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by CaptainDork · · Score: 2

      Did /. author any of TFAs?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you heard something on the internet, and that's automatically factually correct?

    3. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Colin Powell assured me that it was North Korea, and that we must act NOW. And that's good enough for me!

      --
      SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    4. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by xaotikdesigns · · Score: 2

      What I read stated that they would have had to have inside help, not that it was entirely an inside job.

      --
      XDInd
    5. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 5, Funny

      "You can't believe everything you read on the internet"

      -Abraham Lincoln

    6. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by Charliemopps · · Score: 2

      not north korea, is slashdot becoming just another source for government misinformation and propaganda???

      First of all, if you review the "Evidence" provided by that "security firm" you quickly learn that there is no evidence and this is more of a PR stunt. In fact, if you look at all of the interviews with them, every single one of them was with their "Head of media relations" I mean... come on... they're not even trying to hide it.

      But lets assume their wild-ass-guess is correct...
      So an insider helped a hacking group attack Sony... that's their theory. Ok... and why couldn't that hacking group be part of the North Korean military?

    7. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by SeaFox · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So you heard something on the internet, and that's automatically factually correct?

      You mean like the idea Sony was hacked by North Korea? That seems to be based on as flimsy of evidence.

    8. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      An official statement from the FBI isn't exactly the same as some anonymous blog.

      You can doubt the FBI all you want, but I don't know of anyone else having access to the primary evidence involved.

      And as the other reply alluded to, what would be the motive for anyone else besides North Korea? It would have to be a very psycho ex-employee to risk going to jail for the rest of their lives for no personal gain. The threat to bomb theaters showing the film doesn't fit the disgruntled employee theory at all.

    9. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by rtb61 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Dude Seriously, I mean really, Dude, seriously?! Why the bloody hell do you think we have courts, exactly because when it comes to any three letter agency from any bloody where in the world or any police forces or even those police forces with insanely bloated egos calling themselves law enforcement, because "WE DON'T FUCKING BELIEVE YOU, FUCKING PROVE IT" and the court of law is our appointed place for them to prove it (yes it has to be shouted because it has become all too blatantly obvious that they are not paying attention to basic required principles of law and justice).

      Although of course American Exceptionlism demands that foreigners receive no rights with regard to the US, be it justice or even their own lives but seriously guys played out on the internet that looks really really bad to the rest of the worlds politicians especially when your political leaders, no matter how minor, waffle on like that because they believe Americans like to hear that kind of talk.

      Not to forget the US has very much become the boy who cried wolf in the eyes of the general global public and low very much has to publicly prove anything it claims.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    10. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by Dahamma · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And as the other reply alluded to, what would be the motive for anyone else besides North Korea? It would have to be a very psycho ex-employee to risk going to jail for the rest of their lives for no personal gain. The threat to bomb theaters showing the film doesn't fit the disgruntled employee theory at all.

      And very targeted and embarrassing release of insider emails and documents doesn't really fit the North Korea theory very well. I mean, their *official spokesperson* released a statement (sic): "The U.S., a big country, started disturbing the Internet operation of major media of the DPRK, not knowing shame like children playing a tag." Just don't think they are going to be concerned that much with internal Hollywood politics when they can't even manage to translate one sentence into proper English.

      Also, apparently the whole GoP reference and Interview theater threats only came up 3 weeks into the hack; one popular opinion is it was misdirection to muddy the investigation (if so, it sure worked!) And you'd think they'd lead with that if that was their original intent...

      But anyway, at this point neither argument is very convincing. There just isn't any (public) hard evidence either way. Some claim the FBI has "proof they aren't showing" - if they want people to believe them, they might want to release that. The US government hasn't really built a very trusting relationship with its citizen these days...

    11. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 2

      not north korea, is slashdot becoming just another source for government misinformation and propaganda???

      I figure this article isn't misinformation and propaganda, but an avenue for an active discussion of dissent.

      I read an article on North Korea not being responsible for the Sony intrusion; I'm fairly sure on http://arstechnica.com/ mayhaps within the article itself a key phrase used through out was "I can't believe I have to say this". Looking for the article I Googled: sony I don't beleve I have to say this" -with the misspelling or not

      At this time of the first 20 hits or two pages, all call BS on the claim as well.

      Even the http://www.drudgereport.com/ claimed below a link of the intrusion, that a fired employee was responsible (not mentioned in the link/article).

      I'm convinced through the article linked from arstechnica.com (?), North Korea isn't responsible, if only for the fact it has no reason to be interested in Sony, movie or not.

      I won't even get into the executable used.

    12. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by tinkerton · · Score: 2

      That's ironic. Vint Cerf confirms that Al Gore has been quite instrumental in creating the internet. Which is what Al Gore also said. He never said he invented it.

    13. Re:i heard that Sony hack was insiders by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      An official statement from the FBI isn't exactly the same as some anonymous blog.

      The FBI, that well-known organisation with large amounts of experience and jurisdiction over international matters? The CIA and NSA earlier this year made it clear that they did not have the capacity to accurately attribute cyber attacks and that any US policy based on accurate response in this area would be a mistake, so it's good to know that the FBI is more competent than their fellow agencies in this regard.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  3. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I seriously doubt they care. N. Korea gets all of their shit from China and China ain't going to quit supplying them just because the US government said so.

    This is just another show of theatrics by the idiots in charge of the USA to make it look like they actually have some kind of authority.

  4. And why not on South Korea for slavery??? by Joshua.Niland · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Slave Islands are the worst kept secret in South Korea. http://www.news.com.au/world/a...

  5. Re:The way it works is ... by drpimp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    POTUS hits NK with sanctions because, well, cause Merika that's why.

    There fixed that for you.

    --
    -- Brought to you by Carl's JR
  6. FBI evidence is laughable by schwit1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    http://marcrogers.org/2014/12/...

    "So in conclusion, there is NOTHING here that directly implicates the North Koreans. In fact, what we have is one single set of evidence that has been stretched out into 3 separate sections, each section being cited as evidence that the other section is clear proof of North Korean involvement. As soon as you discredit one of these pieces of evidence, the whole house of cards will come tumbling down."

    1. Re:FBI evidence is laughable by Dishwasha · · Score: 2

      Look, if we had to spell out every bit of "evidence" we have concerning how we KNOW NK was involved, we'd have a thousand denialists like you hyper-analyzing every letter and word screaming NO EVIDENCE when we have clearly outlined that we know NK did it. Dude just trust us, we've got this.

    2. Re:FBI evidence is laughable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm confused. When did we discover oil in North Korea?

  7. Great framework by Dishwasha · · Score: 3, Funny

    I really look forward to similar language being used by foreign countries that the US got caught spying and hacking on and the ensuing financial sanctions against the US as well.

    1. Re:Great framework by DarkOx · · Score: 3, Informative

      Two words: Trade War

      You can only sanction an economy that has a mostly one way trade relationship with you. Otherwise you tend to hurt yourself as much or more than you hurt them.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  8. Re:WTF by ColdWetDog · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sony is like 0.00000001 of our economy. Most of us don't care if they fail and disappear entirely.

    Actually, most of us would like to see them sink into obscurity. Might suck for the half dozen Slashdotters who are still using Sony Walkman, but them's the breaks.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
  9. Nothing new.. by s.petry · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I posted last week the same thoughts, even providing links to other professionals who ask "Where any evidence demonstrating that North Korea is the culprit?". I was subsequently rated a "TROLL" for linking the Wired Article and asking the question. Specifically stating like you, that it's become propaganda and facts don't seem to matter. Since people seem to be too lazy to read the Wired article (or any others) here is a 30 minute video.

    The quote "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it, and you will even come to believe it yourself." surely comes to mind, and since people don't seem to be able to discern fact from opinion these days it's an easy game for propagandists to play.

    Why is it relevant? Because sanctions against the DPRK will not hurt the people in charge of the DPRK. They will have their food, wine, and women (or what ever they prefer) no matter what. North Korea can get what ever they need through China, and already does in large part. The people who will be suffering are those already starving.

    Not only is the punishment unjustly targeted, but it harms exactly the _wrong_ people.

    --

    -The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.

    1. Re:Nothing new.. by DarkOx · · Score: 2

      Agreed.

      Even if we assume DPRK is responsible sanctions against autocracies and oligarchies are mostly stupid. As you say its not like they hurt the person(s) that are really the bad actors.

      What we have done with Russia is partly correct in that some effort was made to go after the assets of heads of state, etc rather than just imposing blanket trade embargo rules on the entire nation. It probably isn't a big enough lever though.

      In the case of this smaller dictatorships the only ethical responses are incapacitation, destroy their war making assets ( this may have some collateral damage on the people and I think that is allowable when its especially effective and the collateral damage is minimal). The real response though should be a PERSONAL attack on the leadership. We should target their estates, their person, their families etc and leave the rest of the nation the hell alone as much as possible.

      This would put the hurt where its deserved. It might actually change their behavior if they come to understand it will be things and people near and dear to them or their own life that will be lost rather than just causing some of their slaves to suffer a little more greatly. It would cost us lots less in blood and treasure to hit a few sites with conventional low yield warheads on ICBMs than to go invading half the planet.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    2. Re:Nothing new.. by Dahamma · · Score: 2

      What we have done with Russia is partly correct in that some effort was made to go after the assets of heads of state, etc rather than just imposing blanket trade embargo rules on the entire nation. It probably isn't a big enough lever though.

      I'd say the Russian sanctions are overwhelmingly correct. Putin has an 80% approval rating, which means the Russian people agree with what he did. In that case, they are going to need to accept the consequences of a recession in 2015. If Russia doesn't want to play nice with the rest of the world politically why should the rest of the world play nice with them economically?

      In the case of NK, though, these sanctions are just for show. NK doesn't have a global economy to damage, and certainly doesn't have major trade relations with the US and EU. China will prop them up as they always have...

  10. Someone call Angela Merkel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I hear her phone got hacked or something.

  11. They're sticking with this story? by root_brewski · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I mean, it was pretty convenient timing for a government looking to distract the American public, gave Sony a feasible scapegoat for their security failings, and the only people that could contradict the story aren't about to give evidence against themselves. I guess slapping these "sanctions" on NK means they're doubling down?

  12. Sony Pictures == Columbia, a California company by raymorris · · Score: 5, Informative

    Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. used to be called Columbia Pictures. Headquartered in Burbank, California, it's run by an American CEO and produces American films for an American audience. It was renamed after Sony bought almost half of the stock.

  13. Good by SeaFox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Justice served. Just like when we invaded Iraq for their involvement in 9/11.

  14. Re:President Obola's Authority? by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Gold isn't generally a good investment. There are exceptions however and one of the big ones is what Beck took advantage of. Realizing that the housing market was about to collapse, which in retrospect should have been obvious and evidently it was obvious to Beck at the time, Beck pulled his money out of the stock market and bought gold. Given the fallout that occurred when all those banks tanked and had to be bailed out stocks dropped out and gold spiraled up having a twofold payoff for those who saw it coming. Not only did they avoid losing their ass in stocks but they more than doubled their money on gold. What most people did wrong then was to buy gold after it has gone out of sight. Once you miss the boat you might as well go back home because it's not coming back to port for a looooong time. You always pick up gold when it's cheap. It's a long term safe investment. Right now it's too fucking high to buy. Beck's fat little ass got rich as hell though and then he made millions more hawking it as an investment.

  15. No evidence either way by kervin · · Score: 2

    There is very little public evidence proving or disproving who conducted the hack. That is as much as anyone knows as a fact.

  16. Re:just submitted comment to whitehouse.gov by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 2

    Of course it was an inside job. Where do you think Kim was last fall when nobody saw him for a month? In the hospital? No, he was working as a sys admin at Sony installing the necessary software to pull of this hack.

  17. Re:Explain it like I'm five by amiga3D · · Score: 2

    It's an American subsidiary of a Japanese Corporation. It's in the US but it answers to Sony in Japan. Japan and the US are tied together by trade agreements and military alliance. An attack on Japan is generally treated like an attack on the US.

  18. Bruce Schneier has an interesting analysis by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bruce Schneier posted an analysis on his blog that points out a few things.

    The timestamps on the data suggest that it was downloaded at USB2.0 speeds, and happened on the day that Charles Sipkins, Sony Pictures' head of corporate communications, publicly resigned.

    The USB2.0 speeds implies an inside job, and the timing of Sipkins' resignation is suspicious.

    What was the evidence for NK again?

  19. Re:President Obola's Authority? by tnk1 · · Score: 2

    Gold isn't a bad investment all by itself. What is bad is a strategy that buys gold as if it can overcome the need for market research and diversification.

    There are times that you increase your investment in gold, or bonds, or stock. Those depend on the characteristics of the investment and how the overall economic situation is panning out, but such a move nearly always takes the form of adjusting your exposure, not completely divesting other forms of investment.

    Of course, the biggest problem is that most people are idiots when it comes to investing, but think they are geniuses. So just about every move they make is worse than just dropping their money in an index fund and forgetting about it for a few decades. Sort of like trying to wildly switch lanes in heavy traffic and realizing you'd have gone farther with less risk by simply being patient and sitting in the lane you started in.

    And that is where the unscrupulous can make real money by hawking fear among people who think they are getting "the inside track".

  20. Evidence by BlueTyson · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Relax about the evidence thing. This is how superpowers do things. If you don't know stuff then just make it up, no-one's going to argue. The USS Maine blew up from a boiler and ammunition explosion and that was enough for the US to start the 1898 Spanish-American War. As for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the UN said to the best of their knowledge there were none, up to the bounds of scientific certainty. Which was interpreted by US decision-makers, for whatever reason, as not meaning 'no'. So carry on, this is business as usual, there's nothing extraordinary here.

    1. Re:Evidence by wvmarle · · Score: 2

      Agreed. It's Iraq, Saddam Hussein and his WMDs all over again.

      Not a shred of verifiable evidence given - we just have to believe what those in power say - and accept more death and destruction.

  21. Re:The way it works is ... by AchilleTalon · · Score: 2

    Private matter? How is that?

    Yes, there is a private enterprise involved, however the matter is piracy on american soil, breaking american laws by a foreign country. That is how a private matter becomes a POTUS matter. If you remove the foreign country from the equation, it is still a POTUS matter since it is related to the domestic laws and law enforcement is then involved.

    --
    Achille Talon
    Hop!
  22. Just block their IP netblocks by AaronW · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They only have two, 175.45.176.0/22 and 210.52.109.0/24 as far as I can tell. It's not like we'd be blocking the general population of NK.

    Source.

    --
    This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
  23. Why Sony by TheRecklessWanderer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    OK so NKorea subjugates an entire people, no sanctions, but mess with Sony, sanctions. What gives?

    --
    Mean what you say...say what you mean.
  24. Re:The way it works is ... by Justpin · · Score: 2

    Er Sony is a Japanese corporation with overseas subsidiaries.

  25. Re:Anyone remember "The Manchurian Candidate"? by Archtech · · Score: 2

    "There is no doubt about it because the rebels announced the news themselves to the whole world before they realized their mistake".

    Thank you for your polite expression of dissent. It's fortunate that information like that could never be faked by any group of vicious, self-seeking propagandists who habitually lie about everything. (Which could equally well describe the current "Ukrainian government" or the current US government - it makes no difference as the first is operated by the second).

    Unluckily for your conspiracy theory, we know for sure that there were jet fighters within firing range immediately before MH17 went down; that there was no smoke or noise indicating a BUK launch; that the BUK unit captured by rebels (if any) was incomplete and incapable of shooting down an airliner at 10 Km height; that photographs clearly show the cockpit section riddled with cannon holes; that the Ukrainian authorities deliberately diverted MH17 directly over the fighting, for no good reason; and that mysteriously the highly detailed US military satellite images of the attack have never been released. Apart from which the Russians and Novorussians had every reason not to shoot down a civilian airliner, while Kiev had everything to gain from staging a false-flag attack.

    Your faked "social media" evidence loses hands down.

    --
    I am sure that there are many other solipsists out there.