Security
Obama on hack: dictators can’t impose censorship in the U.S.
Dec 20th
Hours after the FBI fingered North Korea as responsible for the cyber attack on Sony, President Obama spoke at his year-end news conference. The first question asked was regarding the Sony hack and his response to the news of North Korea’s involvement. The president spoke forcefully and strongly about Sony’s decision to pull the movie, what it means for freedom and speech and then onto broader cyberspace themes.
I’ve reproduced some of the key quotes below, and here’s the full video:
“Sony is a corporation, it suffered significant damage, there were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that More >
FBI blames North Korea for Sony hack
Dec 20th
The FBI has blamed North Korea for the massive cyber attack on Sony.
Here’s the agency’s statement in full:
Today, the FBI would like to provide an update on the status of our investigation into the cyber attack targeting Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). In late November, SPE confirmed that it was the victim of a cyber attack that destroyed systems and stole large quantities of personal and commercial data. A group calling itself the “Guardians of Peace” claimed responsibility for the attack and subsequently issued threats against SPE, its employees, and theaters that distribute its movies.
The FBI has determined that the intrusion into More >
DOD on acts of war in cyberspace
Dec 20th
Friday’s news conference at the Department of Defense came before the FBI blamed North Korea for the attack on Sony, but Pentagon spokesman John Kirby did address issues surrounding cyber defense and the sticky question of what exactly is an “act of war” on the Internet.
“I’m not able to lay out in any specificity for you what would be or wouldn’t be an act of war in the cyber domain. It’s not like there is a demarkation line that exists in some sort of fixed space on what is or isn’t,” he said.
“The cyber domain remains challenging, it remains very fluid. More >
Harsh reaction follows Sony’s canceling of “The Interview”
Dec 19th
A day after Sony said it would not be releasing “The Interview” movie in theaters, on DVDs or online, reaction from Hollywood, politicians and TV commentators in the U.S. has been harsh.
The mood was perhaps summed up best by Rob Lowe:
Wow. Everyone caved. The hackers won. An utter and complete victory for them. Wow.
— Rob Lowe (@RobLowe) December 17, 2014
Seth Rogen has been quiet, probably at the request of Sony Pictures, but Rob Lowe said he had bumped into him at the airport.
Saw @Sethrogen at JFK. Both of us have never seen or heard of anything like this. Hollywood has done More >
Sony pulls ‘The Interview’
Dec 18th
So much for standing up to terrorists.
Bowing to the demands of hackers and handing them a major victory, Sony said Wednesday that it is pulling “The Interview” from movie theaters.
The movie, which was due to open on December 25, follows two American showbiz reporters offered the chance to interview Kim Jong Un. Before they leave, they are co-opted by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader.
Sony’s decision came a day after hackers released a database of emails belonging to Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment and with it a message threatening harm if the movie screening went ahead.
A message posted More >
US declassifies Pueblo incident narrative
Dec 15th
The U.S. Air Force has declassified part of a history of the Pueblo incident, the 1968 capture of the electronics and signals intelligence ship U.S.S. Pueblo by North Korean forces.
The document was prepared by the U.S. Air Force Security Service in April 1968 and provides a detailed narrative of the incident, with timings down to the minute, and is almost completely uncensored.
It was provided to The Government Attic website in November in response to a Freedom of Information request made in 2008. The website posted it this week.
There are lots of interesting parts to the story of the Pueblo, which More >
Pyongyang breaks silence on Sony hack
Dec 8th
Two weeks after computers at Sony Pictures were taken offline by a major hack and just over a week since North Korea was mentioned as a suspect, the country’s state media has commented for the first time and denied any involvement in the attack.
In a report on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency carried a statement from the National Defence Commission that also blamed South Korea for the suspicion.
It’s worth noting that the first report that mentioned North Korea as a suspect was published by Re/code, a San Francisco-based technology news website. South Korea doesn’t appear to have much to do More >
Did North Korea hack Sony? Probably Not
Dec 2nd
It’s a compelling story.
A month away from the release of Seth Rogen’s new movie “The Interview,” in which he plays a celebrity reporter sent to North Korea to interview Kim Jong Un and kill him, North Korea is so annoyed at the film that it has hacked into Sony Pictures and threatened to release corporate secrets.
It’s also most likely not true.
The story appears to have begun with Re/code, a technology news website, which reported on Friday “Sony Pictures Investigates North Korea Link In Hack Attack.”
“Sony Pictures Entertainment is exploring the possibility that hackers working on behalf of North Korea, perhaps operating out of China, may be More >
Reports: South Korean arrested on spying charges
Nov 18th
A former officer in South Korea’s military reserve has been arrested on charges of passing documents to a North Korea agent, according to South Korean media reports.
The individual, who was only identified as a 37-year old with the family name of “Jeon,” was arrested under the National Security Law for allegedly passing information to North Korea on five occasions between November 2011 and January 2013, said the Joong Ang Ilbo.
Jeon first made contact with an agent working for North Korea’s Reconnaissance General Bureau in late 2011 when he was running an business that collected cyber money from online games, said The Korea Herald.
The Reconnaissance General More >
North Korean malware hit thousands of phones, says Seoul
Oct 30th
Malicious software disguised as a computer game could have infected around 20,000 smartphones in South Korea, according to South Korean media reports quoting the country’s spy agency.
The games were offered through South Korean sites between May 19 and September 16 this year, the National Intelligence Service said in a report to parliament.
The apps have since been removed and the actual number of phones infected is unclear.
While phones were infected, the software doesn’t appear to have caused any damage but has left the phones vulnerable to eavesdropping and remote video taping, the reports said.
North Korea has often been blamed for cyber attacks on South Korean companies and More >
