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There is a lot of independent analysis pointing at North Korea[0][1][2][3] The infosec industry are extremely skeptical of attribution especially coming from g

by nikcub 9y ago

There is a lot of independent analysis pointing at North Korea[0][1][2][3] The infosec industry are extremely skeptical of attribution especially coming from government - it took a long time for a higher-certainty attribution to be established in the Sony and Bangladesh reserve bank cases, and there are still open cases of attribution in other incidents Along with technical evidence, Wannacry also fits the North Korea m.o of financial incentive but also incentive to sow chaos[12], as well as how their attackers operate in Singapore and China and outsource some components. On the contrary there is little to no evidence pointing anywhere else - meaning the second best probability of attribution for Wannacry is much further down the list. The key difference there is that during the Iraq invasion there was zero corroborative evidence, the actual weapons inspectors said there was no evidence. Further - the USA doesn't need a made-up pretext for war with North Korea. They're technically still at war and North Korea are in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and treaties (they routed around the UN for Iraq) North Korea has sunk a ship[4], downed an airliner[5], attacked South Korean islands[6], tested nuclear weapons, developed a missile program, fired across the DMZ[7] (as recently again as today[8]), assassinated foreigners on foreign soil[9], been caught attempting to sell weapons of mass destruction[10], sold arms to Syria and others in violation of sanctions[11] and more. Either one of those is a stronger and not made-up pretext for an act of war - and one that would have much broader support than Iraq ever did. [0] https://twitter.com/neelmehta/status/864164081116225536?lang=en https://twitter.com/neelmehta/status/864164081116225536?lang... [1] https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/wannacry-ransomware-attacks-show-strong-links-lazarus-group https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/wannacry-ransomware-a... [2] https://blog.comae.io/wannacry-links-to-lazarus-group-dcea72c99d2d https://blog.comae.io/wannacry-links-to-lazarus-group-dcea72... [3] https://securelist.com/wannacry-and-lazarus-group-the-missing-link/78431/ https://securelist.com/wannacry-and-lazarus-group-the-missin... [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROKS_Cheonan_sinking https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROKS_Cheonan_sinking [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_858 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Flight_858 [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Yeonpyeong https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Yeonpyeong [7] http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/21/asia/north-korea-defector/index.html http://edition.cnn.com/2017/11/21/asia/north-korea-defector/... [8] http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42435798 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42435798 [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-nam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-nam [10] http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/alleged-north-korean-agent-arrested-in-sydney-charged-with-trying-to-arrange-sale-of-missile-technology-20171217-h0659d.html http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/alleged-north-korean-agent-arreste... [11] https://qz.com/962995/the-war-in-syria-has-been-great-for-north-korea/ https://qz.com/962995/the-war-in-syria-has-been-great-for-no... [12] https://securelist.com/lazarus-under-the-hood/77908/ https://securelist.com/lazarus-under-the-hood/77908/

rando444 9y ago
No. There is independent analysis pointing at a group called 'Lazarus' which is believed to be linked to North Korea. So, it's either a North Korean group, or a group shielding their identities pretending to be North Korean. Given the lack of publicly available evidence linking the group to NK, and the sophistication of the majority of the things attributed to them, I personally have a very difficult time believing that NK would be capable of these things.. as this would mean extremely talented computer skills, which to develop would require unfettered access to the entire internet for extremely long periods of time, knowledge of several languages, and a host of skill sets that are not usually you'd associate with living in an oppressive regime that can barely keep the power on. I'm going to go with Occam's razor on this one because it's far more likely that it's easier to pretend to be from NK than for NK to do what they are being accused of.
- LV-426 9y ago
  > it's far more likely that it's easier to pretend to be from NK than for NK to do what they are being accused of For all the hot air about "analysis" and "evidence" and crimes NK committed when Kim was a baby five presidents ago, it's extremely easy to know North Korea wasn't responsible for this: Because the idea that any nation state could function in any capacity while simultaneously being so broke that a puny act of organized crime involving Bitcoins could make any difference is utterly beyond the realm of absurdity. Nobody with even moderate critical faculties can seriously believe such a ridiculous premise, and the only thing anyone does by arguing it, sincerely or otherwise, is reduce their own credibility.
  - bane 9y ago
    It's so bad for North Korea that they operate series of restaurants for the sole purpose of bringing exportable cash back to the country. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/08/the-weird-world-of-north-koreas-overseas-restaurants/?utm_term=.366f89fcf69b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/08... It's so bad for North Korea that they "sell" large groups of laborers to friendly countries to work in remote areas for the sole purpose of bringing exportable cash back to the country. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwnw3w/north-korean-labor-camps-part-1 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwnw3w/north-korean-labor... It's so bad for North Korea that for many years they operated a factory town on the border with their active enemy South Korea that used low payed North Korean workers to make goods to sell back to South Korea, under South Korean management for the sole purpose of bringing cash into the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong_Industrial_Region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong_Industrial_Region The list goes on. The GDP of North Korea is estimated to be about $30 billion with the per capita income being around $1,000 per person. North Korea is deeply cash strapped, has few trading partners, and produces very little that anybody would want anyways. It doesn't take much money to move the needle. To not be aware of this is to not posses even remotely moderate critical faculties.

by nikcub 9y ago

rando444 9y ago

No. There is independent analysis pointing at a group called 'Lazarus' which is believed to be linked to North Korea. So, it's either a North Korean group, or a group shielding their identities pretending to be North Korean. Given the lack of publicly available evidence linking the group to NK, and the sophistication of the majority of the things attributed to them, I personally have a very difficult time believing that NK would be capable of these things.. as this would mean extremely talented computer skills, which to develop would require unfettered access to the entire internet for extremely long periods of time, knowledge of several languages, and a host of skill sets that are not usually you'd associate with living in an oppressive regime that can barely keep the power on. I'm going to go with Occam's razor on this one because it's far more likely that it's easier to pretend to be from NK than for NK to do what they are being accused of.

LV-426 9y ago
> it's far more likely that it's easier to pretend to be from NK than for NK to do what they are being accused of For all the hot air about "analysis" and "evidence" and crimes NK committed when Kim was a baby five presidents ago, it's extremely easy to know North Korea wasn't responsible for this: Because the idea that any nation state could function in any capacity while simultaneously being so broke that a puny act of organized crime involving Bitcoins could make any difference is utterly beyond the realm of absurdity. Nobody with even moderate critical faculties can seriously believe such a ridiculous premise, and the only thing anyone does by arguing it, sincerely or otherwise, is reduce their own credibility.
- bane 9y ago
  It's so bad for North Korea that they operate series of restaurants for the sole purpose of bringing exportable cash back to the country. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/08/the-weird-world-of-north-koreas-overseas-restaurants/?utm_term=.366f89fcf69b https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/04/08... It's so bad for North Korea that they "sell" large groups of laborers to friendly countries to work in remote areas for the sole purpose of bringing exportable cash back to the country. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwnw3w/north-korean-labor-camps-part-1 https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/kwnw3w/north-korean-labor... It's so bad for North Korea that for many years they operated a factory town on the border with their active enemy South Korea that used low payed North Korean workers to make goods to sell back to South Korea, under South Korean management for the sole purpose of bringing cash into the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong_Industrial_Region https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaesong_Industrial_Region The list goes on. The GDP of North Korea is estimated to be about $30 billion with the per capita income being around $1,000 per person. North Korea is deeply cash strapped, has few trading partners, and produces very little that anybody would want anyways. It doesn't take much money to move the needle. To not be aware of this is to not posses even remotely moderate critical faculties.