Random Politics & Religion #00

Just like North Korea.

Giving way too much credit to North Korea for hacking into Sony. We are talking about passwords, saved in plain text in excel files named like "Master_Passwords".

The FBI did not say NK did the hack.

Only that some of the malware may be from NK

Federal investigators on Friday accused North Korea of carrying out a computer attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, blaming the Stalinist government for an intrusion that exposed corporate e-mails, wiped out computer data and underlined the cyber capabilities of one of the United States’ top adversaries.

American officials have privately said that they believe North Korea was behind the hacking incident. But the new claim marks a significant escalation — the first time that the United States has openly laid blame on a foreign government for a destructive cyberattack against an American corporation.

“The FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions,” the bureau said in a statement.

The statement said the conclusion was based in part on a “technical analysis” of the malware used in the attack, which “revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed.” The FBI said the attack was also linked to several Internet protocol addresses “associated with known North Korean infrastructure.”

North Korea’s actions were “intended to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves,” the FBI said.

President Obama, scheduled to hold an end-of-year news conference later Friday, was expected to address the issue. The White House earlier this week described the attack against Sony as a “serious national security matter.”

“Though we have seen many different types of intrusions targeting U.S. networks, the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature, sets it apart from typical cyber incidents,” a senior administration official said.

The attack came in apparent retaliation for Sony’s planned Christmas Day release of “The Interview,” a comedy built around the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

It marked the first known intrusion by North Korea into private U.S. computer networks and was improbably effective: Not only were the hackers able to penetrate Sony’s system and expose internal e-mails, but they cowed one of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment firms into pulling the movie.

Intelligence officials “know very specifically who the attackers are,” said one individual familiar with the investigation, who ike others spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

North Korea has publicly denied involvement. On Friday, the group that has claimed credit for the attack, calling itself the Guardians of Peace, were said to have sent Sony executives a new message, praising them for canceling the release of “The Interview” but warning them to “never” let the movie be “released, distributed or leaked,” according to CNN.

The administration is weighing a “proportional” response to the attack, but has not specified the options it is considering. White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday said the administration is not likely to be “entirely transparent” about the response it eventually chooses.

U.S. officials have made clear for several years that they have a range of diplomatic, economic, legal and military options at their disposal in response to cyberattacks. Those steps might include indicting individuals believed to be behind the attack, asking like-minded states to join in condemning the intrusion, and if North Korea persists, undertaking a covert action to dismantle the computer systems used in the operation.

Although officials said the attack against Sony was of a “destructive” nature, it did not meet the traditional definition of a “destructive attack” under international law, which involves death, injury or damage or destruction of physical objects, such as computers.

At the same time, expert said, the intrusion appears to have violated U.S. sovereignty.

“International law permits all sorts of responses” in such a case, said Michael Schmitt, director of the Stockton Center at the U.S. Naval War College.

“Could we hack back at another state? Strike back at them in cyberspace, shutting down their command and control? Absolutely,” he said. “It could be actions that otherwise violate international law in order to force the other state to resume compliance with international law.”

The hack against Sony has thrown into relief North Korea’s burgeoning cyberwarfare capabilities and its increased willingness to use a tool that can be wielded to disproportionate effect against countries with much larger and more powerful militaries and economies.

North Korea had fledgling computer attack capabilities in the late 1980s, but did not begin to develop those capabilities until the late 1990s, when Kim Jong Il’s oldest son, Kim Jong Nam, was given the responsibility of developing a computer center in Pyongyang. Experts say North Korea sees cyberattacks as a way to help close the gap in military capability with countries such as the United States and its ally South Korea.

North Korea has nearly doubled its number of elite hackers over the past two years and has set up bases in outside countries, mainly China, in an effort to boost its capacity to conduct cyberattacks, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported recently, citing military sources.

Saying they're responsible isn't the same as saying they did the acts themselves.

I think the best course of action here, is to send Seth Rogen and James Franco to North Korea to apologize for offending the glorious North Korean leader.

And while they're there, they can take Kim out.

The implication seems to be that the NK government commissioned the attacks, but didn't actually do the hacking. Stop being so dramatic.

...

The statement said the conclusion was based in part on a “technical analysis” of the malware used in the attack, which “revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed.” The FBI said the attack was also linked to several Internet protocol addresses “associated with known North Korean infrastructure.”

...

It marked the first known intrusion by North Korea into private U.S. computer networks and was improbably effective: Not only were the hackers able to penetrate Sony’s system and expose internal e-mails, but they cowed one of Hollywood’s biggest entertainment firms into pulling the movie.

Intelligence officials “know very specifically who the attackers are,” said one individual familiar with the investigation, who ike others spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is ongoing.

...

North Korea has nearly doubled its number of elite hackers over the past two years and has set up bases in outside countries, mainly China, in an effort to boost its capacity to conduct cyberattacks, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported recently, citing military sources.

Granted, this was released about 3 hours ago, so I won't blame you for not knowing Kara.

· Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.

· The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. Government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.

· Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.

However, the only impressive thing about this hack is showing, again, how much Sony does not value security. It is the 56 time they've been hacked in 12 years.

my as well repost this here

take 2hours and you will change your mind on that.

you be change a hour in

take 30mins then and stop being so closed minded "he must be wrong because his name and is a liberal "

just jump 47mins in the video if your impatient

What exactly am I "trying"? They can still ultimately be responsible but the supposed links seem flimsy. I'm awaiting more specific information.