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NSA Hack of N. Korea Convinced Obama NK Was Behind Sony Hack

Mike Lape links to a NYTimes piece which says "The evidence gathered by the 'early warning radar' of software painstakingly hidden to monitor North Korea's activities proved critical in persuading President Obama to accuse the government of Kim Jong-un of ordering the Sony attack, according to the officials and experts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the classified N.S.A. operation." From the linked article: For about a decade, the United States has implanted “beacons,” which can map a computer network, along with surveillance software and occasionally even destructive malware in the computer systems of foreign adversaries. The government spends billions of dollars on the technology, which was crucial to the American and Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear program, and documents previously disclosed by Edward J. Snowden, the former security agency contractor, demonstrated how widely they have been deployed against China. ... The extensive American penetration of the North Korean system also raises questions about why the United States was not able to alert Sony as the attacks took shape last fall, even though the North had warned, as early as June, that the release of the movie “The Interview,” a crude comedy about a C.I.A. plot to assassinate the North’s leader, would be “an act of war.”

2 of 181 comments (clear)

  1. This is stupid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    even by American standards. Let N.K know that you're in their systems, just so you can convince us N.K were behind Sony attacks? Wow. Everyone understands N.K did NOT hack Sony, and in fact, the U.S is more likely to have done it themselves, just like they fuels conflict everywhere else they can. The U.S has become a divider, and the world needs to wake up, and stand up to them.

  2. Re:Well... by Kiwikwi · · Score: 3, Informative

    How would the West feel about the release of a popular film in which the assassination of a living head of state is planned? How would your government behave toward you if YOU wrote a book / published a film / performed a play about this?

    In 2006, Death of a President portrayed the assasination of George W. Bush. I don't remember hearing about it at the time, and even searching the website of Fox News doesn't turn up much controversy.

    In 2008, AFR came out, in which Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the then-Prime Minister of Denmark (and later Secretary-General of NATO) was murdered (and also, incidentally, portrayed as a closeted homosexual, in line with long-standing rumours). It genereted minor controversy, was well-received by critics, and a failure at the box office. I found it forgettable (I literally don't remember any of it).

    Of course, both films were small, independent films, and both can legitimately claim to use the controversial plot for a higher purpose. The Interview... not so much.