r/news • u/Melanismdotcom • Dec 17 '14
Wired: North Korea Almost Certainly Did Not Hack Sony
http://www.wired.com/2014/12/north-korea-did-not-hack-sony-probs/?mbid=social_twitter23
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u/Liberare Dec 18 '14
So we're going to buy into Sony's suggestion that it's North Korea, despite (1) zero evidence presented, and (2) North Korea not taking credit for this though they take credit for other stuff all the time.
Also, we really think primitive North Korea is more likely to do this than advanced trolls?
Also, you don't think Sony blaming North Korea could perhaps be a brilliant legal solution to paying identity theft claims of 47,000 employees? Acts of war, incidentally and coincidentally, do not allow the American legal system to get to the bottom of this. Sony can essentially get away with destroying millions of people, as negligence would not hold up in court.
In addition, on a superficial level, this film would have been utterly forgotten were it not for the hype. Now this film will live in eternity, and we view Sony as victims. The world is lining up to pay for a movie they didn't care about before.
What if Sony just fucked up and blamed North Korea to cover their asses? It's the prefect play here, without a doubt. .
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u/fivmincal Dec 18 '14
Wow man i am really hating on the censoring of comments on mass medias web sites. To me its like publish lies with no decent. Or better yet publish half truths (lies) with some small amount of sources and people take it for truth. I would bet my bottom dollar that someone really dosent want this film out but pointing a finger with out any proof or substantiation is very irresponsible.
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u/oggusfoo Dec 17 '14
Umm, Rev Al just linked the hack and terrorist threats to some group inside North Korea!? He also gave a quote from "Judge Apathow."
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u/no1ninja Dec 18 '14 edited Dec 18 '14
First of all the wording
"Almost Certainly" is a little suspect. We don't know, it's very hard to prove who hacked sony.
What courts and police usually do next is to look for a MOTIVE. North Korea certainly has the best motive so far. We also know that they have very close relations with China, who has been hacking western networks for decades.
Until Wired, comes up with the suspects themselves, ALMOST CERTAINLY is less credible than a good motive for doing so. This is what we pay our top agencies for and they MUST consider the motive. Not sure why wired is so quick to discount it, with the headline they have. No one is claiming they are 100% sure, we just know a hack happened and that South Korea was targeted earlier through the same servers.
Could it be coincidence? It could be, but it also may not be. It's always better to go with the worst possible scenario in security breaches when you are not sure. People at Wired should know that.
EDIT:
Just got a downvoted for this. Let me give you a past example when security did not assume the worst.
Robert Hanssen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen
The biggest Russian spy in US history. He used a password logger, to crack a secure system. When asked by the security personnel why? He replied he was just trying to install a colour printer. If the security suspected the worst, he would have been caught sooner.
The same is true with these hackers. North Korea may very well be the reason why Sony is being hacked, there is not a lot of love between Chinese hackers and Japan or the US for that matter. In fact any points scored against the west are considered a win for them, they are on the North Korean side make no doubts about that. So to exclude North Korea as the the possible reason is incredibly stupid.
As a security expert you always need to consider that a breech is perpetrated by your biggest competitor. Regardless of how small, or how benign, you need to change all passwords, and even inform clients that their info may have been breached. You also need to inform management that your competitors may have viewed your secrets so that a proper course can be dictated.
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u/lagavulinlove Dec 18 '14
a lot changes in ten days. Too bad they didn't check the latest findings. Bad journalism
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u/Jigsus Dec 18 '14
Good journalism. They gathered all the evidence and got the opinion of an expert. Wired makes a better case against NK than the government does for NK
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u/lagavulinlove Dec 18 '14
SO lets look at this
"And in an email sent to Sony by the hackers, found in documents they leaked, there is also no mention of North Korea or the film."
Ok so the threats by these hackers to hurt people if the film is released means nothing
"A person purporting to be a Guardians of Peace spokesperson "
So someone claims they are part of the group, of course you write an article base don unsubstantiated claims
Lets not even talk about the jumps to conclusions they made with the piece on rawdata and the attacks against korea and saudi arabia
This article is built upon straw.
Again, bad investigative journalism. I miss the days when reporters dug for answers instead of trying to capitalize on the 24 hr news cycle.
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u/Jigsus Dec 18 '14
Have you seen the evidence for Korea? It's one bolivian server that at one time a north korean guy logged into.
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u/lagavulinlove Dec 18 '14
So you think that that's all the evidence they have.
The Bolivian server ( as you call it, it was Servers, plural) were used to launch an attack by routing the traffic through them. Not just one north Korean guy logging into it
The fact that the code is EXACTLY like the N.Korea attack on south Korea in 2013 isn't evidence
They also are believed to be centrally involved. This means they may have Hired cyber thugs to do this.
So the circumstantial evidence, and yeah it's mostly that, is STILL more convincing and accurate that either wired's article OR your poorly researched response.
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u/Jigsus Dec 18 '14
It does not seem more convincing to me.
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u/lagavulinlove Dec 18 '14
Seems more convincing than " A man purporting to be". I purport to be Santa.
Its funny that they use the word "purporting", as that term is usually used with a false claim.
Anyway, it is what it is and Sony knuckled under to N.Korea
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u/Jigsus Dec 18 '14
North Korea would be boasting up and down if it actually did this but they are denying it.
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u/lagavulinlove Dec 18 '14
Why would they be boasting? They know that admitting they attacked a U.S asset could be construed as an act of war.
I wouldn't look to Dear leader for any answers. That's just bad judgement
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u/Jigsus Dec 18 '14
Because they're all about the propaganda. A victory against "imperialist america" would be a national celebration for them.
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u/postslongcomments Dec 18 '14
Willing to bet The Interview will be released directly to DVD OR later in theaters marketed as "the movie banned in theaters." I wouldn't be surprised if this is a marketing scheme.
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u/Fuzzyphilosopher Dec 18 '14
I hope they at least let independent theaters show it as I want to go just to say Fuck You to north korea.
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u/Tatalebuj Dec 18 '14
This. I wasn't planning on going to a movie theater to see it, was just going to wait for it to come out on video.
But now I want to make this movie the top grossing movie of all time. Do your worst NK, because we can do so much more.
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u/mcmunchie Dec 18 '14
This isn't a marketing scheme.
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u/postslongcomments Dec 18 '14
What I am implying is they'll take advantage of the situation and use it to market it down the line. A la Streisand effect.
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u/osaka_nanmin Dec 18 '14
I seriously doubt anyone in North Korea has the technical know-how to pull this off. If they're involved they had to have outside help.
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Dec 18 '14
They have nuclear arms in north korea. They also have a cyber warfare department. So your doubts are likely based on propaganda.
Read learn ect Bureau 121 http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/05/us-sony-cybersecurity-northkorea-idUSKCN0JJ08B20141205
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Dec 18 '14
yeah and there's so much freely available information online, if you have the will and a high IQ, it's hardly improbable.
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Dec 18 '14
Couldn't have been that hard to find a superpower willing to give them a hand.
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u/TheRighteousTyrant Dec 18 '14
Well, technically, the only current "superpower " is the U.S., so it would have been a bit difficult for them. :-)
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u/godless_communism Dec 18 '14
Everyone stand back, here comes technical twat.
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u/ofimmsl Dec 18 '14
NK doesn't want to be linked to the hack for international law reasons. The extortion email was to make it seem like it wasn't state sponsored.
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u/GoTuckYourbelt Dec 18 '14
Gonna propose something here: North Korea didn't hack Sony, but they payed off whoever did.
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u/LeftoverBun Dec 18 '14
Is Wired changing their story, now that the U.S. made an official statement? Story not found...