Sony first casualty in the cyberwar between North Korea and the US.

[FunkyTown]

So... Sony America created a film called 'The Interview' which makes fun of Kim Jong Un.

North Korea hacked the company, confidential information and threatening terrorist attacks should the company release the film.

Sony has backed down entirely and pulled the film.

Don't get me wrong - Seth Rogen and the others involved means this would have been a sophomoric, probably very stupid film.

But through sheer will, North Korea has forced an American business to cancel - Worldwide - A film that they don't like, effectively putting Kim Jong Un above satire.

[Guest]

So... Sony America created a film called 'The Interview' which makes fun of Kim Jong Un. North Korea hacked the company, confidential information and threatening terrorist attacks should the company release the film. Sony has backed down entirely and pulled the film. Don't get me wrong - Seth Rogen and the others involved means this would have been a sophomoric, probably very stupid film. But through sheer will, North Korea has forced an American business to cancel - Worldwide - A film that they don't like, effectively putting Kim Jong Un above satire.

 

I don't buy that it's North Korea that's doing this... it could possibly be just some punk genius 16-year-olds who want to play terrorist... and... because of the PR embarrassment, the media - and U.S. Officials with campaign contributions - sympathetic to Sony put it out as North Korea.

 

Sony has been fielding a ton of bad PR lately... this just adds to that dung pile.

 

Seth Rogen and James Franco have been producing movies surprisingly popular among cultish followers... this one looked like it was gonna be a smash hit among that crowd.

Edited December 18, 2014 by anatess

[NeuroTypical]

NK hacked Sony?  Need source.  Got link?

[Mahone]

I don't buy that it's North Korea that's doing this... it could possibly be just some punk genius 16-year-olds who want to play terrorist... and... because of the PR embarrassment, the media - and U.S. Officials with campaign contributions - sympathetic to Sony put it out as North Korea.

Sony has been fielding a ton of bad PR lately... this just adds to that dung pile.

Seth Rogen and James Franco have been producing movies surprisingly popular among cultish followers... this one looked like it was gonna be a smash hit among that crowd.

I agree that North Korea didn't do it themselves. Heck, North Korea early have only been assigned 4 IP ranges of 254 usable public IP addresses each for the entire country. Up until recently, all four of those public IP ranges actually routed to another country entirely, I think it was China, who took responsibility for North Koreas public IP addresses on behalf the North Korea, because they didn't have the skills or equipment to do it themselves.

That means that up until quite recently, North Korea had no access to the public internet at all - all their IP addresses routed to China.

Now, some of their IP ranges do route into North Korea, but most of these IP addresses rarely show any kind of activity.

Considering the above, it's likely that very few people in North Korea possess the skills and knowledge required to perform a cyber attack like this.

As for whether they asked China to do it on their behalf.. who knows.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Mahone

[Guest MormonGator]

This is bothering me more than I thought it would. Sony not releasing the film is meekly obeying the bullies. I'm not a movie guy so in the end I guess I don't care. It still bothers me though. 

[PolarVortex]

I tend to agree with Mahone.  I just watched a YouTube video called "North Korea: A day in the life" and it was mesmerizing.  If that whole nation is run the way I saw in the video, then I'm surprised even the laws of physics operate successfully there.  (Do watch this video over the Christmas break, it's really good.)

 

However, evil is on sale in many black markets around the globe.  North Korea doesn't need the means if they have the money.

[Vort]

This is bothering me more than I thought it would. Sony not releasing the film is meekly obeying the bullies. I'm not a movie guy so in the end I guess I don't care. It still bothers me though. 

Agreed. Given the likely stupidity of the movie, I don't think there is any important loss of art. Just a loss of freedom because of the cowardice of the bean-counters at Sony. I read Matt Walsh's column this morning on the issue, and I am pretty much 100% in agreement.

[Guest MormonGator]

Agreed. Given the likely stupidity of the movie, I don't think there is any important loss of art. Just a loss of freedom because of the cowardice of the bean-counters at Sony. I read Matt Walsh's column this morning on the issue, and I am pretty much 100% in agreement.

Exactly! It's just some stupid movie I wasn't going to see anyway, but it's an indicator that we've become a nation of cowards in some ways. 

[Vort]

Exactly! It's just some stupid movie I wasn't going to see anyway, but it's an indicator that we've become a nation of cowards in some ways. 

The Berkeley crowd will bravely stand up to the evil Christians who dare to teach such vile filth as that God expects us to keep sacred our sexuality and not use it indiscriminately or perversely. But it would be raving lunacy to expect them to stand up to threats from, oh, I don't know, Islamicist terrorists or North Korea, basically anyone willing to punch them in their ugly faces for their verbal abuse. Such is the state of "courage" among Americans, and specifically among the politically correct Left.

[Guest MormonGator]

Yup. They stand up to people who their friends also dislike. Of course they do. No on will call them out on it. 

[Crypto]

It's probably not North Korea doing the hacking. And even if it was, with the way modern hackers operate it would be very difficult to pin down exactly where they are operating from. Unless they were pretty clumsy in what they were doing, which would make a hack of this extent even less likely.

 

Not to mention how the media and government like to use these events to polarize the public.

Edited December 18, 2014 by Crypto

[Guest Godless]

I doubt very much that this legitimately came from Korea. I also think there's a chance that Sony's move to pull the film was more of a publicity stunt/marketing strategy than an act motivated by actual fear of repercussions. Let's say they decide to release it six months from now. The hype and internet buzz created this week will give them even bigger numbers in the box office. But that's only a theory. B)

Edited December 18, 2014 by Godless

[NeuroTypical]

NK hacked Sony?  Need source.  Got link?

Found my own darn link.

 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-hack-shines-light-on-north-koreas-cyber-attackers-1418877740

 

 

The U.S.’s conclusion that North Korea was responsible for the massive hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment has turned the spotlight on cyber operations run by Pyongyang and its emphasis on asymmetric warfare capabilities to maintain its ability to threaten South Korea and others.

...

Kim Heung-kwang, a former computer science professor in North Korea, says that working as a cyberwarrior is a highly-coveted position among North Korean elite youth. Mr. Kim, who defected to the South in 2004, says that he taught a range of programming subjects such as data encryption and transmission. His finest students were sent to China or Russia to hone their craft before returning to serve in cyberwarfare, he said.

...

U.S. investigators suspect Unit 121 of North Korea’s military spy agency, the General Bureau of Reconnaissance, is behind the attack on Sony . The division is also suspected by South Korea for staging a series of disruptive attacks in recent years on Seoul government websites, banks and broadcasters.

...

Estimates of North Korea’s cyberwarrior numbers range from hundreds to thousands. Kim Kwan-jin, then-defense minister in Seoul, said last year that North Korea runs a dedicated cyberwarfare military unit composed of 3,000 people.

 

 

Well, ok then.  

Edited December 18, 2014 by NeuroTypical

[Mahone]

Found my own darn link.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sony-hack-shines-light-on-north-koreas-cyber-attackers-1418877740

Well, ok then.

I'm aware of the supposed existence of unit 121, but I'm still skeptical of their abilities. Many of the attacks attributed to them were either basic brute force such as DDOS, or little evidence was provided to prove their involvement.

Incidentally, unit 121 largely operates inside of China and other countries, because North Korea simply doesn't have the the technology and infrastructure to provide for their needs.

[Blackmarch]

Actually, I think something like this is certainly within the capabilities of any dedicated group of people that have access to the internet, especially if they can either of themselves use malware to zombie computers or tap into various hacker group resources to do so.. Whether they did it on their own or not I don't know. But i think it was interesting that NKoreas network went down hard recently.

[Palerider]

I heard they are showing the movie somewhere in the country. I also read where North Korea said they were going to try the White House next in regards to hacking....anyone else hear this ??

[unixknight]

While I agree the movie is probably stupid and I'm not emotionally invested, I don't think that's really relevant. 

 

What is important to me is that Sony has sent the message that this kind of saber rattling and threats are effective.  This can only encourage more of such nonsense.  IMHO, that alone is reason enough to release the movie, whether it's any good or not.  It's why we're not supposed to negotiate with terrorists... that only encourages more of it.  

[jerome1232]

Am I the only one fascinated by this? New warfare invloves viruses, network outages, and digital theft.

[Mahone]

Am I the only one fascinated by this? New warfare invloves viruses, network outages, and digital theft.

Nope. I've been fascinated by the subject since the discovery of the stuxnet malware.

It's interesting to note that China and several other countries generally won't allow any software or firmware on their government networks made by an American company or organization. That includes the popular client and server operating system Microsoft Windows, corporate networking equipment and firewalls/IPS from Cisco and HP etc. They just can't trust these companies not to be complicit in digital espionage with the US government. It's the same vice versa as well.

Edited December 26, 2014 by Mahone

[unixknight]

It's interesting to note that China and several other countries generally won't allow any software or firmware on their government networks made by an American company or organization. That includes the popular client and server operating system Microsoft Windows, corporate networking equipment and firewalls/IPS from Cisco and HP etc. They just can't trust these companies not to be complicit in digital espionage with the US government. It's the same vice versa as well.

 

It is for this reason U.S. Government agencies don't use equipment manufactured by Lenovo.

[Blackmarch]

While I agree the movie is probably stupid and I'm not emotionally invested, I don't think that's really relevant. 

 

What is important to me is that Sony has sent the message that this kind of saber rattling and threats are effective.  This can only encourage more of such nonsense.  IMHO, that alone is reason enough to release the movie, whether it's any good or not.  It's why we're not supposed to negotiate with terrorists... that only encourages more of it.  

yep. However death threats are not trivial issues. either way you decide to go is going to be nerve wracking.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Blackmarch

[unixknight]

That's true, but every time I hear a decision like this made "in the interest of safety" I wonder what the soldiers who have fought for our freedom, voluntarily and in the most dangerous environments imaginable, would say about that.

[Blackmarch]

That's true, but every time I hear a decision like this made "in the interest of safety" I wonder what the soldiers who have fought for our freedom, voluntarily and in the most dangerous environments imaginable, would say about that.

Indeed.

[Guest]

Well, my cousin has the movie... downloaded for free from the internet...

[unixknight]

My wife and I are going to buy it streaming and watch it tomorrow night.