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

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.