US unveils evidence North Korea was behind Sony hacking; Obama warns of retaliation
Pyongyang official denies country was involved as calls widen for Hollywood not to back down on screening 'The Interview'
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 20 December, 2014, 11:09am
UPDATED : Saturday, 20 December, 2014, 12:55pm
AP and AFP in Washington
US President Barack Obama says the US would respond 'proportionately' to the hacking now blamed on North Korea. Photo: Bloomberg
The United States has formally accused North Korea of being behind the dramatic hacking attack at Sony Pictures Entertainment, but offered few hints about how it would retaliate.
Its proof: the US detected internet addresses known to be operated by North Korea communicating directly with other computers used to deploy and control the hacking tools left behind at the crime scene.
The file theft and subsequent threats of terror attacks by hackers led Sony Pictures to cancel the release of the film The Interview, a comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un – which had incensed Pyongyang.
The attack involves the use of malware and rendered thousands of Sony Pictures computers “inoperable”, forcing the company to take its entire network offline, the FBI said.
Speaking after the FBI’s revelations, US President Obama said Washington would never bow to “some dictator”,
“We can confirm that North Korea engaged in this attack,” Obama said. “We will respond. We will respond proportionately and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.”
While the president said he was sympathetic to Sony’s plight, he also said: “Yes, I think they made a mistake [in cancelling the film’s release].”
“We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” he added.
There was “no evidence” that North Korea had acted in concert with another country, Obama said, after reports that China – Pyongyang’s only ally – had possibly provided assistance.
An internal FBI investigative document obtained by The Associated Press identified the computers in the Sony hacking as operating in New York, Thailand, Poland, Italy, Bolivia, Singapore and Cypress.
At least three were still functioning on Friday, responding online to internet test signals transmitted by the AP. The hackers previously published some of the stolen materials with a message that included five addresses using an anonymous e-mail service in France.
In a taunting new e-mail the hackers sent to select Sony employees, they told the Hollywood studio that executives were “very wise” to cancel the movie’s release and said they planned no further disclosures of Sony’s confidential materials “as long as you make no more trouble”. The message warned “never” to release the film in any form including on DVD.
Watch: Bone of contention - Trailer for the film 'The Interview'
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The FBI described the Sony hacking as unusual because of “the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature”.
“The FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions,” said the US statement, which was not attributed to any official by name. “North Korea’s actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a US business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves.”
The statement included a general promise to impose “costs and consequences” against any person, group or government using cyberattacks to threaten the US or its interests.
North Korea’s UN mission on Friday denied involvement in a cyberattack on Sony Pictures. Pyongyang had previously hailed the hacking as a “righteous deed”, though it also denied involvement at the time.
“Our country has no relation with the hacker,” North Korean political counsellor Kim Song said. “There is no relation. This is not worth a comment.”
The anonymous hackers invoked the memory of September 11, 2001, in threatening attacks on cinemas screening the film, prompting major cinema chains to say they would not screen it.
In Hollywood, actor George Clooney said the entertainment industry should take action now by pushing for the immediate release of The Interview online.
US options for acting against North Korea are limited. The US already has a trade embargo in place, and there is no appetite for military action. Even if investigators could identify and prosecute the individual hackers believed responsible, there is no guarantee that any located are overseas would ever see a US courtroom.
Hacking back at North Korean targets by US government experts could encourage further attacks against American targets.
Evans Revere, a former State Department official and specialist on Korea, said if US officials connect North Korea not only to the hacking attack but to the threats to carry out 9/11-style attacks against cinemas, a case could be made to put North Korea again on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.
That designation now is held by Iran, Sudan, Syria and Cuba. North Korea was on the list for 20 years until it was taken off in 2008 by the Bush administration during nuclear negotiations.
