Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers

nlinecomputers

nlinecomputers

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Sony cancels North Korea movie in apparent win for Pyongyang hackers


(Reuters) - Sony Pictures has canceled the release of a comedy on the fictional assassination of North Korea's leader, in what appears to be an unprecedented victory for Pyongyang and its abilities to wage cyber-warfare.

Hackers who said they were incensed by the film attacked Sony Corp (6758.T) last month, leaking documents that drew global headlines and distributing unreleased films on the Internet.

Washington may soon officially announce that the North Korean government was behind the attack, a U.S. government source said.

The $44 million raunchy comedy, "The Interview", had been set to debut on Dec. 25, Christmas Day, on thousands of screens.

"Sony has no further release plans for the film," a Sony spokeswoman said on Wednesday when asked whether the movie would be released later in theaters or as video on demand.

Read the rest here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/18/us-sony-cybersecurity-theaters-idUSKBN0JV2MA20141218
 
nlinecomputers said:
So is anyone else just as shocked as I am over this? So has hacking become the new terrorism?
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Shocked? Not at all. Been happening for some time... with the US being on the offensive front line. The new terrorism? Be careful how you use that word. Suddenly, it seems that every illegal act becomes labeled terrorism simply to heighten the perceived danger. Terrorism? No. Sony servers being hacked and the cancellation of a movie does not produce terror in a populous.
 
I use that word because the reason the movie theater chains backed out was because of bomb threats.

Most of the hacking we have seen in the US has been for financial gain by theft. This is the first major instance designed to cause only damage.

And yes you can site hundreds of actions by China and so forth against Google, Microsoft, Apple, and many other companies. But nothing of this scale.
 
Everyone knows the threats are basically without foundation. What we are hearing is the Lawyers talking. Remember that ANYBODY can get sued for ANTHING in the USA. For obvious reasons insurers have always declined to cover acts of war and terrorism. Not long after 9/11 Bush signed into a law another welfare program,http://www.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_tria.htm, because the losses were so great. This one is for terrorism related insurance. Rather than addressing the real problem, Tort reform, they just extended the all you can eat buffet table for lawyers to 100 Billion per event
 
nlinecomputers said:
I use that word because the reason the movie theater chains backed out was because of bomb threats.
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Hacking and making a bomb threat are two different things. So, no, hacking is not the new terrorism. Bomb threats are an old terrorism. The empty bomb threats have nothing to do with the hacking other than they are coming from the same group.. but those two actions are not complimentary of each other - The hacking isn't causing bomb threats and bomb threats aren't causing hacking.


nlinecomputers said:
Most of the hacking we have seen in the US has been for financial gain by theft. This is the first major instance designed to cause only damage.
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How is this cyber attack causing "only damage"? Do you mean in the physical world or simply to Sony and their intellectual property/bottom line? In 2010 Stuxnet was released by the US which was designed to physically destroy nuclear processing machinery by reprogramming or modifying motor controllers and PLC's. So by your logic the US is a Terroristic country?

nlinecomputers said:
And yes you can site hundreds of actions by China and so forth against Google, Microsoft, Apple, and many other companies. But nothing of this scale.
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Well, considering Sony's IT dept is a mess, security was lacking and virtually every password for everyone and everything was in unprotected Word and Excel docs in a folder called "Password".. Sony was looking for trouble and allowed the hackers to reach "this scale" due to their ignorance and not necessarily the prowess of the hackers.

Also, this hack is nowhere near the biggest attack when looking at either the metrics of "Data Sensitivity" or the "Number of Records Stolen" - Worlds Biggest Data Breaches - so, no need to be an alarmist.

Also, according to the latest news it looks as if North Korea is responsible. Great. Now the US is effectively bowing down to terrorists and their demands. Even worse, we're bowing down to North Korea. Even worse, if anyone in the world has a problem with a company in the US in the future, just make an empty threat on BuzzFeed and we will suspend our liberties for you. Ah, America!

If I were Sony, I would be releasing the movie on Hulu, Youtube, Netflix for FREE - Can't bomb that and it gives a big F.U. to NK.
 
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Using violence or intimidation to achieve one's goals is pretty much the very definition of terrorism.

NK caused damage to property (electronic or not) and is using intimidation and threats to get their way. OK, so it's not a bomb going off or bullets spraying a wall, but it is terrorism.

Even the idea that there might be dozens of NK bombers infiltrating movie theaters to defend the honor of their Dear Leader's offspring is ridiculous. And if it were to become NOT ridiculous, then the time will have come to erase the 38th parallel and prove MacArthur right.
 
phaZed said:
Hacking and making a bomb threat are two different things. So, no, hacking is not the new terrorism. Bomb threats are an old terrorism. The empty bomb threats have nothing to do with the hacking other than they are coming from the same group.. but those two actions are not complimentary of each other - The hacking isn't causing bomb threats and bomb threats aren't causing hacking.




How is this cyber attack causing "only damage"? Do you mean in the physical world or simply to Sony and their intellectual property/bottom line? In 2010 Stuxnet was released by the US which was designed to physically destroy nuclear processing machinery by reprogramming or modifying motor controllers and PLC's. So by your logic the US is a Terroristic country?



Well, considering Sony's IT dept is a mess, security was lacking and virtually every password for everyone and everything was in unprotected Word and Excel docs in a folder called "Password".. Sony was looking for trouble and allowed the hackers to reach "this scale" due to their ignorance and not necessarily the prowess of the hackers.

Also, this hack is nowhere near the biggest attack when looking at either the metrics of "Data Sensitivity" or the "Number of Records Stolen" - Worlds Biggest Data Breaches - so, no need to be an alarmist.

Also, according to the latest news it looks as if North Korea is responsible. Great. Now the US is effectively bowing down to terrorists and their demands. Even worse, we're bowing down to North Korea. Even worse, if anyone in the world has a problem with a company in the US in the future, just make an empty threat on BuzzFeed and we will suspend our liberties for you. Ah, America!

If I were Sony, I would be releasing the movie on Hulu, Youtube, Netflix for FREE - Can't bomb that and it gives a big F.U. to NK.
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Ok so are you attacking my stance or agreeing with it? IMO we have capitulated to a terrorist group for no valid reason.

Yes Sony was dumb. So are idiots who leave keys in cars running at the C-Store. Still doesn't make either any less a crime.

And for the record I think we cross a line when we engage in our own cyberterrorism. Of course I've never supported any of our so called War on Terrorism actions. It is simply an excuse to mettle in World affairs at the behest of those corporations that economically benefit from it.
 
Increase the tension between the US and Korea....yes. Not that we were comfy in the first place with them.

Am I shocked? No....quite a yawner for me.

I agree with PhaZed...Sony should have released it via popular media....pretty much no threat versus theaters with bomb threats. And simply put...it would be like flipping the bird to the Koreans.
 
Since Sony is Japanese, and Japan is within missile range of NK, I can't help but wonder if that had something to do with it. (?)

Or maybe you were right up there^.... lawyers.

Whatever reason, it's sad that it came down to that. Sets a pretty bad precedence in my opinion.
 
They should have gone the opposite way...

Release it as planned but make it free to see!!! Imagine a free showing at theaters across the land on 12/25.... at least super cheap?

I think that kind of response would be more appropriate and show them that these tactics can backfire.
 
MichaelBits said:
They should have gone the opposite way...

Release it as planned but make it free to see!!! Imagine a free showing at theaters across the land on 12/25.... at least super cheap?

I think that kind of response would be more appropriate and show them that these tactics can backfire.
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What's the difference between bombing a theater full of paying customers and those that got in for free?

I understand letting people stream it for free.
 
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altrenda said:
Fwiw many in the entertainment industry have doubt's about the North Koreans and think its an inside job, with more going on behind the scenes.
This makes for some interesting reading.
http://mobile.extremetech.com/lates...snt-north-korea?origref=http://www.google.com
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We rarely hear the real facts about how exploits evolve but the few I have seen sometimes involved an "insider". Voluntary or involuntary. Knowing or unknowing. Just saw on CNN where a source in the US Gov said that an Admin's credentials were "stolen".

I sincerely doubt that NK has the resources to do this all on their own. It's possible they may have paid some blackhats to help them. Heck, I'd bet the Iranian's might have done it for free.

Also, I saw one commentator mention that China may have been involved. We all know they are very active in this arena. He mentioned that China may have handed over some exploits over to NK and then let them run with it.
 
altrenda said:
What's the difference between bombing a theater full of paying customers and those that got in for free?

I understand letting people stream it for free.
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It seems Sony has written this work off as a loss already, why not release/leak it as a torrent? It's decentralized, so it doesn't provide a target for retribution.
 
I'm English and live my life thinking "i'm in it for our species", with that in mind i consider what Sony did to be a very bad thing.
Sony spent $$lots$$ on this movie which directly targets the leader of a country, if this was a school yard, Sony are the bullies here!
I haven't heard about bombing theatres, i'd hope (and i sincerely mean hope) is purely propaganda talk by the bullies allies due to the stance taken (hacking) by the smaller kid.
This film should never have been made with the characters chosen, Sony should have made up a fictional country, with a fictional leader, but they didn't. Imagine if NK had the same budget and "prestige" and made a film about assassinating Obama, would that be OK? and would it taken as lightly as expected?

by stating any reason this film should be released for free is only fueling the fire and is exactly how the bully wants you to react. I'd imagine if you were north-korean you'd think very differently.
My "review" is Sony should apologise and admit they did wrong by this, because the nitty-gritty is, they were wrong to allow this film to be made without the explicit permission of the people it portrays. they knew exactly what they were doing and it has backed fired with the smaller kid retaliations hurting them.
 
Laplandz said:
I'm English and live my life thinking "i'm in it for our species", with that in mind i consider what Sony did to be a very bad thing.
Sony spent $$lots$$ on this movie which directly targets the leader of a country, if this was a school yard, Sony are the bullies here!
I haven't heard about bombing theatres, i'd hope (and i sincerely mean hope) is purely propaganda talk by the bullies allies due to the stance taken (hacking) by the smaller kid.
This film should never have been made with the characters chosen, Sony should have made up a fictional country, with a fictional leader, but they didn't. Imagine if NK had the same budget and "prestige" and made a film about assassinating Obama, would that be OK? and would it taken as lightly as expected?

by stating any reason this film should be released for free is only fueling the fire and is exactly how the bully wants you to react. I'd imagine if you were north-korean you'd think very differently.
My "review" is Sony should apologise and admit they did wrong by this, because the nitty-gritty is, they were wrong to allow this film to be made without the explicit permission of the people it portrays. they knew exactly what they were doing and it has backed fired with the smaller kid retaliations hurting them.
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If I were North Korean, there's a good chance I'd be told what to think....and brutalized if I thought otherwise. You do realize that this film is a comedy/satire?....although not a very good one judging from some of the reviews of those who have screened it.
 
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