Did North Korea hack Sony? Probably Not
It’s a compelling story.
A month away from the release of Seth Rogen’s new movie "The
Interview,” in which he plays a celebrity reporter sent to North Korea
to interview Kim Jong Un and kill him, North Korea is so annoyed at the
film that it has hacked into Sony Pictures and threatened to release
corporate secrets.
It’s also most likely not true.
The story appears to have begun with Re/code, a technology news website, which reported on Friday "Sony Pictures Investigates North Korea Link In Hack Attack.”
"Sony Pictures Entertainment is exploring the possibility that
hackers working on behalf of North Korea, perhaps operating out of
China, may be behind a devastating attack that brought the studio’s
network to a screeching halt earlier this week, sources familiar with
the matter tell Re/code,” the site reported.
It goes on to say that security experts from outside the company are
exploring the theory that the attack, which brought Sony’s internal
network to a halt, is linked to the movie that is due in U.S. movie
theaters on December 25.
The source of the theory is unclear.
Over the weekend, the possible link with North Korean was reported by numerous news organizations including Reuters, The Guardian, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, which asked "Is North Korea targeting Sony in cyberwar?” and Forbes, which reported "North Korea May Have Leaked Sony Movies Online.”
North Korea has been fingered in a number of cyberattacks before, but
those usually target South Korean institutions. One of the most
disruptive occurred in March 2013 when attacks took down the internal networks
of several major South Korean TV broadcasters and a bank ATM network.
South Korean investigators linked the attack to North Korea and the
country later denied any involvement.
In this latest attack, there are numerous inconsistencies with
previous cyberattacks that were blamed on North Korea. Of course, that
doesn’t mean the country isn’t involved, but each one makes it less and
less likely that it is:
- Computers at Sony displayed a message threatening the release of
internal documents if undisclosed demands were not met. North Korean
hackers have never made such public demands.
- The message claimed the hack was carried out by "#GOP,” which stands
for "Guardians of the Peace.” Attacks linked to North Korea have never
included such claims of credit.
- The attackers posted messages on several Sony Twitter accounts,
personally attacking Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton. North Korean
attacks have never used such a tactic and state media has never called
out Sony executives when criticizing the movie.
- North Korea has never launched such a targeted and public attack at
an institution that angered it, and many organizations have angered it
in the past.
http://www.northkoreatech.org/2014/12/02/did-north-korea-hack-sony-probably-not/
|