Is North Korea behind the hack on Sony Pictures? There has been a bit of back and forth on this with initial reports saying yes and later reports saying no, but all this while North Korea has denied their involvement, although they don’t seem to be too upset and maybe even a little happy that Sony Pictures has been hacked.
That being said in the latest update on the hack, CBS News Homeland Security Correspondent Bob Orr has recently reported that his sources have informed him that the FBI has “definitively” traced the attack back to North Korea. The evidence points at hackers directed by North Korea’s cyber unit in which they use data-wiping malware to steal Sony’s corporate secrets and computer files.
Orr also mentions that investigators found many similarities in this hack and 2013’s hack on South Korean banks and broadcasters, another attack in which it was believed that North Korea was involved. The White House has released an official statement in which they stated that the hack was “destructive activity with malicious intent that was initiated by a sophisticated actor,” although they stopped short of actually naming North Korea.
The reason, as we mentioned in our previous report is that the White House is worried that a direct confrontation could negatively impact the negotiations between Japan and North Korea for the return of kidnapped Japanese nationals. Sony has also since cancelled the theatrical release of “The Interview”, a film about the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a movie which North Korea had initially protested against.