FBI says they have enough information to accuse North Korea of the Sony Hack

[stevenleser]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/19/fbi-sony-hack_n_6354450.html?ir=Politics&utm_campaign=121914&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-politics&utm_content=FullStory

Note: The below includes two paragraphs written by the HuffPo author and the entire text from the FBI which is not copyrighted:

The FBI released a statement Friday on the Sony hacking, saying there's enough information to conclude North Korea is responsible for the attack.

"We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there," the statement said. "Further, North Korea's attack on SPE [Sony Pictures Entertainment] reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the United States."

Read the entire 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 theaters 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.

[Man from Pickens]

1. Unfortunately, these statements aren't credible

I think we all remember the Syrian chemical weapons attack fiasco where the powers that be were so dead certain that it was the government that they were ready to drag us immediately into full-scale war with Assad, only to find upon fuller investigation that the perpetrators were not Syrian government at all who were responsible for it.

[stevenleser]

2. One has nothing to do with the other. Your statement makes no sense. For one thing...

you are talking about two completely different departments of the FBI.

The FBI has a cyber crimes division that likely has nothing to do with the FBI folks who are experts in NBC (Nuclear/Biological/Chemical) weapons.

[Man from Pickens]

9. That's not a material difference

The chain of command leads up to the same place, and the same threats to whistleblowers are present. Every other federal security agency has been caught in at least one massive lie in recent years, and the FBI has its own lengthy and sordid history of deceptions against the American people.

That these statements from our government can't be trusted is the inevitable result of past lies that have been told (for which no one has been held accountable, I might add). The trust deficit is both substantial and well-founded.

[stevenleser]

10. Of course it is a material difference. The groups are wholly separate. You have no basis for

concluding the ability of one group to effectively investigate is the same as the other.

http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/fbi-headquarters/org_chart/image/organizational-chart

[Man from Pickens]

11. We shall see... maybe

if we ever get to see this evidence that is claimed to exist, I would wager that it leads to a different conclusion altogether from what we are being told.

Right now, you are taking them on faith alone, as they have supplied no evidence for us to review and assess independently. I believe that faith is not justified by the record.

[LanternWaste]

21. No more and no less than you are disbelieving them... on faith alone.

"Right now, you are taking them on faith alone..."

No more and no less than you are disbelieving them... on faith alone. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

If you have credible evidence the premise they put forth is untrue or inaccurate, we'd love to hear it. Otherwise, well... we all want faith in something I suppose, even if that faith is merely unsourced skepticism.

[Man from Pickens]

12. Oh look, how timely

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/report-fbis-anthrax-investigation-flawed-27718744

and we only find out 13 years plus after the fact. How convenient, eh?

[stevenleser]

14. Again, an investigation from the NBC group. Looks like that group has some issues. Again...

..., says nothing about the Cyber crimes group.

[Man from Pickens]

17. My point is trust-by-default is an illogical position

This isn't confined to one unit of the FBI. We have plenty of documented lies from NSA, DHS, CIA, etc. to establish a pattern of providing falsehoods to the American people, especially on matters of significant import.

We also have an extensive record of seeing whistleblowers being the only ones prosecuted/persecuted in serious scandals - Kiriakou, Manning, Snowden, and others.

In this specific case we also have previous involvement by State which establishes a vested interest in reaching a particular conclusion - an interest established before the evidence is alleged to have been analyzed.

If the order came down from on high that NK was to be blamed no matter what the evidence actually showed, then NK would be blamed and not in one of a thousand cases would anybody blow the whistle, since if there is one credible aspect to this whole situation it is that any whistleblower would be treated with extreme prejudice.

Cynicism and skepticism of FBI statements is wholly appropriate due to these factors; blind trust is not justified at all.

[stevenleser]

19. Then you should acknowledge mistrust by default to be an illogical position as well. nt

[Man from Pickens]

20. Not so

Mistrust is well-justified by the long record of intentional deceptions by federal security agencies, prosecutions of whistleblowers, and complete absence of consequences for those who perpetrate the lies upon us. Lying to us is a minimal-risk proposition.

[stevenleser]

22. Yes so. FBI conducts hundreds of good investigations a year, perhaps thousands.

It makes much more sense to trust their investigative abilities than to mistrust them.

[Man from Pickens]

24. And the other shoe drops

North Korea was NOT behind the Sony hack according to multiple security experts who discredit FBI findings and reveal that a studio insider named 'Lena' may be responsible

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2887081/North-Korea-NOT-Sony-hack-according-multiple-security-experts-discredit-FBI-findings-reveal-insider-named-Lena-responsible.html#ixzz3MxqzYeBi

So... maybe there's something to the whole "don't trust FBI/CIA/NSA/DoD/State" etc?

[stevenleser]

25. No, it hasn't. There are competing theories at this point

FBI indicates that the security experts don't have all the info. We'll see

[jakeXT]

5. Maybe Michael Hayden will get his Digtal Blackwater

Summary:The private sector may need to take up its own arms against cyber threats and not rely solely on the federal government, Gen. Michael Hayden says.

In an age where cyberwarfare is more common than the physical battlefield, it may be necessary for the private sector to stop playing defense and go on offense, Gen. Michael Hayden said Friday.

Hayden, who led the National Security Administration and Central Intelligence Agency under president George W. Bush, said during a panel discussion at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colo. that the federal government may not be the sole defender of private sector companies -- and that there's precedent for such action.

"We may come to a point where defense is more actively and aggressively defined even for the private sector and what is permitted there is something that we would never let the private sector do in physical space," he said.

"Let me really throw out a bumper sticker for you: how about a digital Blackwater?” he asked. “I mean, we have privatized certain defense activities, even in physical space, and now you’ve got a new domain in which we don’t have any paths trampled down in the forest in terms of what it is we expect the government -- or will allow the government -- to do."

http://www.zdnet.com/article/hayden-digital-blackwater-may-be-necessary-for-private-sector-to-fight-cyber-threats/

[stevenleser]

6. Hayden was NSA, not FBI. nt

[jakeXT]

16. He was also CIA and the NSA would be helpful in uncovering the attack, because they record a lot of

internet traffic

[angrychair]

3. really?

If this were true:

"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."

Than they would have arrested members of congress long ago!

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Then there can be no doubt.

[Downwinder]

7. We have the evidence, but we can't show it to you.

Because then we would have to kill you.

[Blue_Adept]

8. It's good to see liberals distrust government as much as conservatives do

That was the plan all along, after all.

[Ykcutnek]

13. That's good enough for me.

But the Internet will be painful with all the basement-dwelling experts claiming conspiracy.

North Korea is a bastion of freedom that would never do such a thing. The big, bad USA is just setting them up. LEAVE NORTH KOREA ALONE!

Le sigh.

[okaawhatever]

18. I know. I can't believe the number of people who have jumped to NK's defense. nt

[William769]

15. Kick & recommend.

[stevenleser]

23. Thank you sir!

[on point]

26. But apparently not enough to arrest admitted torturer Chenry?