UPDATE (Friday, Jan. 2. 3:59 p.m. EST): U.S. President Barack Obama warned North Korea there would be repercussions over the nation’s connection to the devastating Sony hack, and today he issued an executive order authorizing additional sanctions.
The executive order authorizes the U.S. Treasury to impose additional sanctions in retaliation for North Korea’s “ongoing provocative, destabilizing, and repressive actions and policies, particularly its destructive and coercive cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment,” reads an announcement from the White House.
“We take seriously North Korea’s attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression,” the statement added.
These latest sanctions against North Korea add to existing sanctions, reports Variety, “eliminating access to the U.S. financial sector for 10 individuals and three government entities identified as key operatives in the hacking.”;
—
The FBI released an official statement Friday confirming the cyber attack on Sony Entertainment is the work of the North Korean government.
They’ve been investigating the threats made against Sony, including a 9/11 style attack on movie theatres on Christmas Day if “The Interview”; was released, this week and have announced their findings.
Read the full statement below:
“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 theatres that distribute its movies.
The FBI has determined that the intrusion into SPE’s network consisted of the deployment of destructive malware and the theft of proprietary information as well as employees’ personally identifiable information and confidential communications. The attacks also rendered thousands of SPE’s computers inoperable, forced SPE to take its entire computer network offline, and significantly disrupted the company’s business operations.
After discovering the intrusion into its network, SPE requested the FBI’s assistance. Since then, the FBI has been working closely with the company throughout the investigation. Sony has been a great partner in the investigation, and continues to work closely with the FBI. Sony reported this incident within hours, which is what the FBI hopes all companies will do when facing a cyber attack. Sony’s quick reporting facilitated the investigators’ ability to do their jobs, and ultimately to identify the source of these attacks.
As a result of our investigation, and in close collaboration with other U.S. Government departments and agencies, the FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions. While the need to protect sensitive sources and methods precludes us from sharing all of this information, our conclusion is based, in part, on the following:
• Technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in this attack revealed links to other malware that the FBI knows North Korean actors previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks.
• The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the U.S. Government has previously linked directly to North Korea. For example, the FBI discovered that several Internet protocol (IP) addresses associated with known North Korean infrastructure communicated with IP addresses that were hardcoded into the data deletion malware used in this attack.
• Separately, the tools used in the SPE attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.
We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there. Further, North Korea’s attack on SPE reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States. Though the FBI has seen a wide variety and increasing number of cyber intrusions, the destructive nature of this attack, coupled with its coercive nature, sets it apart. North Korea’s actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a U.S. business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves. Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior. The FBI takes seriously any attempt – whether through cyber-enabled means, threats of violence, or otherwise – to undermine the economic and social prosperity of our citizens.
The FBI stands ready to assist any U.S. company that is the victim of a destructive cyber attack or breach of confidential business information. Further, the FBI will continue to work closely with multiple departments and agencies as well as with domestic, foreign, and private sector partners who have played a critical role in our ability to trace this and other cyber threats to their source. Working together, the FBI will identify, pursue, and impose costs and consequences on individuals, groups, or nation states who use cyber means to threaten the United States or U.S. interests.”;
Related: Most Controversial Movies Of All Time
The FBI has declined to offer interviews or any additional comment while the investigation is ongoing.
Barack Obama addressed Sony’s decision to pull The Interview in a press conference on Friday, calling the decision “a mistake.”;
“We cannot have a society in which some dictator can start imposing censorship in the United States,”; he said. “I wish they had spoken to me first.”;
Obama guaranteed a response to North Korea’s cyber attack but offered little detail into the type of retaliation. “[The U.S.] will respond proportionately and in a space, time and manner that we choose,”; he explained. “Americans cannot change their patterns of behaviour due to the possibility of a terrorist attack. That’s not who we are, that’s not what America is about.”;
Hours after the White House press conference, Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton addressed the studio’s decison and Obama’s comments in an interview with CNN. “I think actually the unfortunate part is in this instance, the president, the press and the public are mistaken as to what actually happened,”; he told Fareed Zakaria.
“The movie theatres came to us one by one over the course of a very short time. We were very surprised by it,”; Lynton continued. “They announced that they would not carry the movie. At that point in time, we had no alternative to not proceed with a theatrical release on the 25th of December.”;
Adding, “we have not caved. We have not given in. We have persevered.”;
Lynton also refused to rule out the possibility of a release of the movie in the near future, sending out a call out to video-on-demand distributors (VOD). “As it stands right now, while there have been a number of suggestions that we go out there and deliver this movie digitally or through VOD, there has not been one major VOD…one major e-commerce site that has stepped forward and said they are willing to distribute this movie for us.”;
Zararia’s interview with Lynton is slated to air this Sunday.
