Federal Bureau of Investigation blames North Korea for the Sony Pictures cyber attack

The US today blamed North Korea for the cyber-attack on Hollywood movie studio Sony Pictures in which confidential information was leaked by hackers. “The FBI now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions,” an official statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said. The FBI and the US Department of Justice are conducting an investigation into the Sony cyber breach, which the White House has said is a serious national security matter. The agency said technical analysis of the data deletion malware used in the attack revealed links to other malware that it knows North Korea previously developed. For example, there were similarities in specific lines of code, encryption algorithms, data deletion methods, and compromised networks, it said. The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the US government has previously linked directly to North Korea, the statement alleged. Separately, the tools used in the attack have similarities to a cyber-attack in March last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was also carried out by North Korea, it said. “We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there,” the FBI said adding that North Korea’s attack on Sony reaffirms that cyber threats pose one of the gravest national security dangers to the US. Though the FBI has seen a wide variety and increasing number of cyber intrusions, the destructive nature of this attack and its coercive nature, sets it apart, it said. North Korea’s actions were intended to inflict significant harm on a US business and suppress the right of American citizens to express themselves, it added. The Sony cyber-attack happened last month, destroying systems and stealing 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 Sony, its employees, and theatres showing its movies. The attack also rendered thousands of Sony computers inoperable, forced it to take its entire computer network offline, and significantly disrupted the company’s business operations, the FBI said. After discovering the intrusion into its network, Sony requested the FBI’s assistance. “The cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment was not just an attack against a company and its employees. It was also an attack on our freedom of expression and way of life,” said Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson. PTI