Hack attack spurs call for more NKorea sanctions
Source: AP-Excite
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON and ERIC TUCKER
WASHINGTON (AP) — Suspicions that North Korea was behind a destructive hacking attack against Sony Pictures and a threat against movie theaters are intensifying calls for tougher U.S. steps to cut that country's access to hard currency and declare it once more as a state sponsor of terrorism.
At first glance, U.S. options for responding to the hacking attack are limited. Bringing the shadowy hackers to justice appears a distant prospect. A U.S. cyber-retaliation against North Korea would risk a dangerous escalation. And North Korea is already targeted by a raft of sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.
"We don't sell them anything, we don't buy anything from them and we don't have diplomatic relations," said William Reinsch, a former senior Commerce Department official who was responsible for enforcing international sanctions against North Korea and other countries.
But the U.S. isn't powerless if it concludes Pyongyang was behind the hack that has prompted Sony to cancel its Christmas Day release of the movie "The Interview."
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A movie billboard is displayed behind a Sony Pictures Entertainment Studio entrance in Culver City, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 18, 2014. Companies across the globe are on high alert to tighten up network security to avoid being the next company brought to its knees by hackers like those that executed the dramatic cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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