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> the very same day that Sony Pictures' head of corporate communications, [... name removed by rbobby ...], publicly resigned from a $600,000 job. This could be

by rbobby 12y ago

> the very same day that Sony Pictures' head of corporate communications, [... name removed by rbobby ...], publicly resigned from a $600,000 job. This could be a coincidence but it seems unlikely. So Schneier is repeating GotNews' (Charles C. Johnson) accusation that this fellow is connected to a serious set of crimes. All on the basis that a portion of these crimes appear to have happened on the same day the alleged conspirator resigned from his job. Pretty outrageous behavior. Especially since the FBI has has identified NK as responsible. It's worth noting that the FBI had access to _ALL_ the available data and has presumably investigated any employees known to have left recently on bad terms (i.e. the FBI did a professional job of investigation). All the bullshit speculation as to why the FBI is wrong has been based solely on crumbs of publicly available data/information. The underlying premise is that the FBI is utterly incompetent and unable to investigate a crime of this nature. That doesn't pass Occam's Razor let alone any kind of smell test.

woodman 12y ago
> That doesn't pass Occam's Razor let alone any kind of smell test. Really? So North Korea launching a cyber attack in order to prevent the release of a stupid movie seems like a plausible story to you? Of course the story is a moving target, as they are now hedging with the whole foreign contracted hacker angle... Do you think they conducted a "professional job of investigation" before blaming North Korea? Do you think that they'd change their position on the matter even after discovering evidence that they were wrong? Keep in mind, Obama quickly restated their claims and threatened retaliation.
sroerick 12y ago
> The underlying premise is that the FBI is utterly incompetent and unable to investigate a crime of this nature. No, there's lots of different things that could be happening. The FBI could have said it was North Korea to save face. As @thegrugq (who, by the way, is one of three security researchers who I can find who believes it was North Korea) suggests, the NSA could have investigated, discovered the culprit was DPRK, and then just informed the FBI. The FBI could also be incompetent. But lets bear in mind that this is the same organization that blackmailed MLK and told him to kill himself, launched the COINTELPRO program, started fires at Waco, spied on Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Denver, John Lennon, Jane Fonda, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, MC5, Lou Costello, Sonny Bono, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and Mickey Mantle, and three years ago used a chainsaw to break into a house before realizing that it was the wrong house. So you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical of the organization's claims. PS. If you have any other 3rd party security researchers who believe the FBI's claims, I'd be happy to add them to my list.
- woodman 12y ago
  The list could go on for quite a while, but this reminds me more of their handling of the anthrax attacks. Pinning the attacks on Bruce Ivins after driving him to suicide. It is pretty difficult finding anybody who actually agrees with the FBI on that one. Criminal investigations are tough enough, but when you are trying to catch somebody who is intelligent and doesn't want to be caught - it is pretty close to impossible. Couple that with political pressure and you get the present state, where it is much easier either create a boogieman (giving phony detonators to unstable people) or just piling more blame on those that can't defend themselves (dead men, hermit kingdoms). Also, I'm surprised that the Secret Service isn't mentioned in all this - they've traditionally been much better equipped to handle computer related crime. This is an area that the FBI has always really sucked at.

by rbobby 12y ago

woodman 12y ago

> That doesn't pass Occam's Razor let alone any kind of smell test. Really? So North Korea launching a cyber attack in order to prevent the release of a stupid movie seems like a plausible story to you? Of course the story is a moving target, as they are now hedging with the whole foreign contracted hacker angle... Do you think they conducted a "professional job of investigation" before blaming North Korea? Do you think that they'd change their position on the matter even after discovering evidence that they were wrong? Keep in mind, Obama quickly restated their claims and threatened retaliation.

sroerick 12y ago

> The underlying premise is that the FBI is utterly incompetent and unable to investigate a crime of this nature. No, there's lots of different things that could be happening. The FBI could have said it was North Korea to save face. As @thegrugq (who, by the way, is one of three security researchers who I can find who believes it was North Korea) suggests, the NSA could have investigated, discovered the culprit was DPRK, and then just informed the FBI. The FBI could also be incompetent. But lets bear in mind that this is the same organization that blackmailed MLK and told him to kill himself, launched the COINTELPRO program, started fires at Waco, spied on Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, John Denver, John Lennon, Jane Fonda, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, MC5, Lou Costello, Sonny Bono, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and Mickey Mantle, and three years ago used a chainsaw to break into a house before realizing that it was the wrong house. So you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical of the organization's claims. PS. If you have any other 3rd party security researchers who believe the FBI's claims, I'd be happy to add them to my list.

woodman 12y ago
The list could go on for quite a while, but this reminds me more of their handling of the anthrax attacks. Pinning the attacks on Bruce Ivins after driving him to suicide. It is pretty difficult finding anybody who actually agrees with the FBI on that one. Criminal investigations are tough enough, but when you are trying to catch somebody who is intelligent and doesn't want to be caught - it is pretty close to impossible. Couple that with political pressure and you get the present state, where it is much easier either create a boogieman (giving phony detonators to unstable people) or just piling more blame on those that can't defend themselves (dead men, hermit kingdoms). Also, I'm surprised that the Secret Service isn't mentioned in all this - they've traditionally been much better equipped to handle computer related crime. This is an area that the FBI has always really sucked at.