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Out of the 5 possibilities Schneier listed, I found #1 (the one picked by FBI) mostly likely. > This is the work of independent North Korean nationals. Mr. Sc

Out of the 5 possibilities Schneier listed, I found #1 (the one picked by FBI) mostly likely. > This is the work of independent North Korean nationals. Mr. Schneier doesn't clearly understand people who lived in a totalitarian country. If this national lives in North Korean, there is no way he will dare such an attack without being instructed by the government. This level of freedom doesn't exist in his mind. And it doesn't make sense for a North Korean still holding the same ideology to live outside North Korea, he would either completely abandoned that or go back to North Korea. > This is the work of hackers who had no idea that there was a North Korean connection to Sony until they read about it in the media. This doesn't explain the Korean language used in the code. It might be a South Korean, but from my knowledge, it's very hard to imagine a South Korean risking going to the jail either fighting for North Korean or even find it fun. (Hint - South Korean people don't like the people from north who are pointing Thousands of cannons and missiles to them). As for why this is not the same encoding as North Korean dialect, I know people from mainland China use encoding of Traditional Chinese from Taiwan. It is very easy for me the imagine that North Korean government offices use such settings so that they can access resources from South Korea (much more abundant and still without language barrier.) > It could have been an insider This hacker has been hurting regular Sony employees. From my understanding, only people with mental problems will direct their hatred towards a company to random regular employees (his own ex-coworkers). People with mental problems don't usually possess the hacking skills demonstrated in this case. > The initial attack was not a North Korean government operation, but was co-opted by the government. It is hard to imagine a hacker targeting Sony with the plan to profit from selling the information to North Korean government and then intentionally leave some trace towards North Korea (the Korean language in code). This attack must have originated from North Korea, and that's the conclusion FBI is suggesting.

vezzy-fnord 12y ago
People with mental problems don't usually possess the hacking skills demonstrated in this case. Depends on the mental problem. The category is far too broad to make a sweeping statement like that. Anything from being slightly narcissistic to being a paranoid schizophrenic can be considered a "mental problem" under one definition or another. Most of these do not involve any diminished technical skills. In addition, I could cynically retort that anyone who orchestrated such a reckless and damaging attack as this isn't exactly the most mentally stable.
brudgers 12y ago
There's no reason that the Nationals need be North Korean. There is diversity of political opinion in the South and not everyone loves Japan or has forgiven them for the long and brutal occupation. The film could easily be seen an attack on Korean sovereignty for any partisan of a unified Korean State. That a Japanese corporation is behind it certainly doesn't help. On the other hand, historically the view of Japan as the important enemy is more strongly associated with the North. Fighting the Japanese occupation was probably a more important part of Kim Il-sung's political life than socialism and much of the divide between North and South was based on collaboration with occupiers than on a love/hate relation with capitalism...most Koreans in both countries at the time their civil war was hot were agrarian peasants.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
If this national lives in North Korean, there is no way he will dare such an attack without being instructed by the government. This level of freedom doesn't exist in his mind. And it doesn't make sense for a North Korean still holding the same ideology to live outside North Korea, he would either completely abandoned that or go back to North Korea. 25% of Koreans in Japan align politically with the DPRK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon
AlyssaRowan 12y ago
I did not see any Korean language references in the malware code. The rawdisk driver linked into Wiper is a reusable, publicly-available one, which has been used for many purposes including legitimate ones, and was written by someone from South Korea. That was compiled with a Korean locale (as you'd expect). The result is a bit like saying Duplex Secure wrote Alcohol 120% because it uses the SPTD drivers - an invalid conclusion.

vezzy-fnord 12y ago

People with mental problems don't usually possess the hacking skills demonstrated in this case. Depends on the mental problem. The category is far too broad to make a sweeping statement like that. Anything from being slightly narcissistic to being a paranoid schizophrenic can be considered a "mental problem" under one definition or another. Most of these do not involve any diminished technical skills. In addition, I could cynically retort that anyone who orchestrated such a reckless and damaging attack as this isn't exactly the most mentally stable.

brudgers 12y ago

There's no reason that the Nationals need be North Korean. There is diversity of political opinion in the South and not everyone loves Japan or has forgiven them for the long and brutal occupation. The film could easily be seen an attack on Korean sovereignty for any partisan of a unified Korean State. That a Japanese corporation is behind it certainly doesn't help. On the other hand, historically the view of Japan as the important enemy is more strongly associated with the North. Fighting the Japanese occupation was probably a more important part of Kim Il-sung's political life than socialism and much of the divide between North and South was based on collaboration with occupiers than on a love/hate relation with capitalism...most Koreans in both countries at the time their civil war was hot were agrarian peasants.

lotsofmangos 12y ago

If this national lives in North Korean, there is no way he will dare such an attack without being instructed by the government. This level of freedom doesn't exist in his mind. And it doesn't make sense for a North Korean still holding the same ideology to live outside North Korea, he would either completely abandoned that or go back to North Korea. 25% of Koreans in Japan align politically with the DPRK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongryon

AlyssaRowan 12y ago

I did not see any Korean language references in the malware code. The rawdisk driver linked into Wiper is a reusable, publicly-available one, which has been used for many purposes including legitimate ones, and was written by someone from South Korea. That was compiled with a Korean locale (as you'd expect). The result is a bit like saying Duplex Secure wrote Alcohol 120% because it uses the SPTD drivers - an invalid conclusion.