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>The fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale & language actually makes it less likely to be North Korea. Not least because they don’t speak tr

by basch 12y ago

>The fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale & language actually makes it less likely to be North Korea. Not least because they don’t speak traditional “Korean” in North Korea, they speak their own dialect and traditional Korean is forbidden. This is one of the key things that has made communication with North Korean refugees difficult. I would find the presence of Chinese far more plausible. http://marcrogers.org/2014/12/18/why-the-sony-hack-is-unlikely-to-be-the-work-of-north-korea/ http://marcrogers.org/2014/12/18/why-the-sony-hack-is-unlike...

guelo 12y ago
That's an uninformed confused argument. That blogers' links about "traditional" korean are about a few differences in vocabulary that have developed between North and South. Nothing that would suggest that there are any differences in the characters used to type on a computer with. That's because the languages and characters are the same. BTW, the original investigation on the locale concluded that the UTF8 character could be decoded with korean or chinese locales. The fact that the hackers were using a korean (or chinese) locale doesn't prove that the hackers were korean, but it also doesn't prove that the hackers were NOT korean, as this blogger tries to do.
- saeguaiga 12y ago
  It would follow neatly that the one linker offered His Unassailable Eminence was the one that would spit out strings in an accommodating way and dereference some political parties in the Americas, Pacific, EMEA and PRC. Also, just because it's a locale name doesn't mean it's not Korea (or a cipher for the GOP's inimitable MO for gov infosys.)
anigbrowl 12y ago
I don't find that argument very persuasive. First, while there are dialect differences I think this argument significantly overstates them - I think the last answer in this Quora discussion sums it up well, saying that it's like the differences in American and British English - significant, but hardly a serious barrier: http://www.quora.com/Korean-language-1/How-different-is-the-dialect-of-North-Korea-from-that-of-South-Korea http://www.quora.com/Korean-language-1/How-different-is-the-... It's not like North Korea's government just picks random proles and tells them to start writing malware if they want to keep receiving gruel; anyone engaged in cyber-espionage is going to have a very high security clearance and be well educated by North Korean standards. You wouldn't be surprised by the idea of a KGB officer (or FSB these days) that spoke perfect English, would you? Why is the idea that North Korean spies would be fluent in dialect/idiom of their own language so hard to swallow? I would imagine that any North Koreans engaged in cyber espionage/security has spent at least some time infiltrating South Korean social networks, to gather intelligence, disseminate subtle propaganda (as opposed to the chest-beating type put out by the official news agencies) and so forth. I don't know if the Sony attack was carried out by NK or not, but the idea that it could not have been rests on the notion that North Koreans are incapable of social engineering, acquiring language skills beyond their own, or impersonating anyone else for espionage purposes - a modern version of the trope that Russian spies could be quickly detected by the poor cut of their suits.
pdabbadabba 12y ago
What OSs have "North Korean" locale and language settings? The Windows 7 PC I'm on now sure doesn't have one (though it does have "Korean"). And if there is no "North Korean" setting available, wouldn't it make sense for them to use Korean, seeing as it's the only other language that uses their system of writing?

by basch 12y ago

guelo 12y ago

That's an uninformed confused argument. That blogers' links about "traditional" korean are about a few differences in vocabulary that have developed between North and South. Nothing that would suggest that there are any differences in the characters used to type on a computer with. That's because the languages and characters are the same. BTW, the original investigation on the locale concluded that the UTF8 character could be decoded with korean or chinese locales. The fact that the hackers were using a korean (or chinese) locale doesn't prove that the hackers were korean, but it also doesn't prove that the hackers were NOT korean, as this blogger tries to do.

saeguaiga 12y ago
It would follow neatly that the one linker offered His Unassailable Eminence was the one that would spit out strings in an accommodating way and dereference some political parties in the Americas, Pacific, EMEA and PRC. Also, just because it's a locale name doesn't mean it's not Korea (or a cipher for the GOP's inimitable MO for gov infosys.)

anigbrowl 12y ago

I don't find that argument very persuasive. First, while there are dialect differences I think this argument significantly overstates them - I think the last answer in this Quora discussion sums it up well, saying that it's like the differences in American and British English - significant, but hardly a serious barrier: http://www.quora.com/Korean-language-1/How-different-is-the-dialect-of-North-Korea-from-that-of-South-Korea http://www.quora.com/Korean-language-1/How-different-is-the-... It's not like North Korea's government just picks random proles and tells them to start writing malware if they want to keep receiving gruel; anyone engaged in cyber-espionage is going to have a very high security clearance and be well educated by North Korean standards. You wouldn't be surprised by the idea of a KGB officer (or FSB these days) that spoke perfect English, would you? Why is the idea that North Korean spies would be fluent in dialect/idiom of their own language so hard to swallow? I would imagine that any North Koreans engaged in cyber espionage/security has spent at least some time infiltrating South Korean social networks, to gather intelligence, disseminate subtle propaganda (as opposed to the chest-beating type put out by the official news agencies) and so forth. I don't know if the Sony attack was carried out by NK or not, but the idea that it could not have been rests on the notion that North Koreans are incapable of social engineering, acquiring language skills beyond their own, or impersonating anyone else for espionage purposes - a modern version of the trope that Russian spies could be quickly detected by the poor cut of their suits.

pdabbadabba 12y ago

What OSs have "North Korean" locale and language settings? The Windows 7 PC I'm on now sure doesn't have one (though it does have "Korean"). And if there is no "North Korean" setting available, wouldn't it make sense for them to use Korean, seeing as it's the only other language that uses their system of writing?