The CYBER WAR propaganda wheels are turning furiously today- and Gingrinch over on the Twitter is demanding actions be taken-- more below.
Let's be clear: the case against N. Korea is rather thin.
First off, we have to say that attribution in breaches is difficult. Assertions about who is behind any attack should be treated with a hefty dose of skepticism. Skilled hackers use proxy machines and false IP addresses to cover their tracks or plant false clues inside their malware to throw investigators off their trail. When hackers are identified and apprehended, it’s generally because they’ve made mistakes or because a cohort got arrested and turned informant.
Nation-state attacks often can be distinguished by their level of sophistication and modus operandi, but attribution is no less difficult. It’s easy for attackers to plant false flags that point to North Korea or another nation as the culprit. And even when an attack appears to be nation-state, it can be difficult to know if the hackers are mercenaries acting alone or with state sponsorship—some hackers work freelance and get paid by a state only when they get access to an important system or useful intelligence; others work directly for a state or military. Then there are hacktivists, who can be confused with state actors because their geopolitical interests and motives jibe with a state’s interests.
Word is the hacker(s) were in Sony's system for SIX months. did the "dear leader" even know about The Interview six months ago?
Regardless, today even "alternative media" radio NPR is dutifully (inaccurately) repeating the NY Times' "N. Korea is centrally involved in the Sony hack". Evidence? Where is it?
Don't bother with the quote from psycho fuzzy head dear leader's statement: "yeah, we did it". I'm not buying it.
Regardless, it's the not the job of the federal government to provide security for irresponsible companies like Sony, Target, etc., who apparently sit around and wait until they have a major security breach before they do anything to improve the security of their respective systems.
I read recently one of our "security agencies" wants to hire 3,000 "cyber warriors". and what is their base salary? $120K per year?
FAIL.
http://www.wired.com/...