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I agree with you in the sense that it could be NK due to the fact that it was clearly a well funded operation. Also, my final point is rather weak and ignores

by rilita 12y ago

I agree with you in the sense that it could be NK due to the fact that it was clearly a well funded operation. Also, my final point is rather weak and ignores the possibility that NK wanted to do it and wants to be able to deny they did it also. I still doubt it is NK for many different reasons. Another one to throw on the pile is due to the threats of violence if the movie is released. Terrorists don't threaten and then back off, they simply commit the actions without giving you a chance to stop. Eg: If it was NK, they would say "In return for creating this movie, we are going to do X". Of what benefit is it to NK to not deliver on their threats? Is it established at this point in time how the entire attack was accomplished and exactly what taken was taken? I think not. Avoiding detection for so long while actively exploiting a system is no small thing. I don't doubt that the attack could have been done by NK, in fact it is likely that it was funded by NK. What I doubt is that it was done ( the actual hackers ) by anyone who agrees with NK politics. This seems strongly to me like work for hire by digital mercenaries. Whoever did it seems to be just following instructions rather than thinking. Eg: Go steal all their data and dump it to the world. As others have pointed out, there are many other more selfish things that could have been done with the data than dumping it to the world.

exelius 12y ago
Making threats and backing off of them is NK's entire MO. They threaten to crush the imperialists and reunite Korea on pretty much a monthly basis. In fact, the entire threats and appeasement model is pretty much how they approach international relations. They developed nuclear weapons in order to get more international aid in exchange for halting their nuclear weapons program. They launch missiles over Japan to antagonize the west into thinking they're a big threat. And the method of attack has been pretty well established: they somehow obtained access to the network (likely by buying stolen credentials off the black market) and used some 0-day exploits (also likely purchased off the black market) to gain access to core IT systems. They then figured out where the data was, hauled it off over a weekend, then pushed out malware over NetBIOS that wiped the PCs. And it's not about being selfish: it's about North Korea improving their standing in the world political order through a show of force. Realpolitik is the way international politics works: morality and truth go out the window, and it's purely about who has power and the will to wield it. By staying in the news, NK is controlling the US media cycle in the same way that an invasion of Ukraine does. In fact, there's probably been more discussion of this hack than of the Ukraine conflict, so I'd say it accomplished its goal.

by rilita 12y ago

exelius 12y ago

Making threats and backing off of them is NK's entire MO. They threaten to crush the imperialists and reunite Korea on pretty much a monthly basis. In fact, the entire threats and appeasement model is pretty much how they approach international relations. They developed nuclear weapons in order to get more international aid in exchange for halting their nuclear weapons program. They launch missiles over Japan to antagonize the west into thinking they're a big threat. And the method of attack has been pretty well established: they somehow obtained access to the network (likely by buying stolen credentials off the black market) and used some 0-day exploits (also likely purchased off the black market) to gain access to core IT systems. They then figured out where the data was, hauled it off over a weekend, then pushed out malware over NetBIOS that wiped the PCs. And it's not about being selfish: it's about North Korea improving their standing in the world political order through a show of force. Realpolitik is the way international politics works: morality and truth go out the window, and it's purely about who has power and the will to wield it. By staying in the news, NK is controlling the US media cycle in the same way that an invasion of Ukraine does. In fact, there's probably been more discussion of this hack than of the Ukraine conflict, so I'd say it accomplished its goal.