Has Sony Pictures become number one enemy of North Korea leader Kim Jong-un? Is his glorious Jong-un-ness angry about an upcoming and less-than-flattering movie called The Interview? So angry, he ordered his elite hacking squad -- Unit 121 -- to breach Sony's firewall in retaliation? Is this a stretch of the imagination, reality, or have bloggers seen too many hacker movies?
In IT Blogwatch, bloggers wouldn't believe it if you told them.
Filling in for our humble blogwatcher Richi Jennings, is a humbler Stephen Glasskeys.
Tim Hornyak explains :
Sony Pictures Entertainment is making progress in removing new films stolen in a cyberattack from file-sharing websites.
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[Some] news reports have said North Korea-affiliated hackers may have launched the attack in retaliation for the upcoming Sony film "The Interview," about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. MORE
Mysterious "Andy" shares torrents of information:
Hacked on Monday by a group calling themselves the Guardians of Peace, Sony Pictures' systems remain down [during the weekend], a sign of the situation's gravity.
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[Reports] suggest that the attackers also made off with an estimated 11,000 gigabytes of files. Seriously upping the ante, the hackers warned Sony that "sensitive" data would be released into the wild if their demands were not met. MORE
Mike Firn never feels the need to threaten anyone:
North Korea had threatened "a strong and merciless countermeasure" against the US if it released the Sony Pictures' film The Interview.
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[Kim Jong-un's] anger over the film may have led country's military to hack into Sony Pictures computers, said Andrei Lankov, a professor at South Korea`s Kookmin University.
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"He really wants to be liked so he is annoyed by any kind of critical remarks about him," Mr Lankov said. MORE
Steven Musil flashes hack back:
This hack could be the latest in a string of embarrassing security breaches for Sony. Earlier this month, hacker group DerpTrolling released thousands of...user logins from PlayStation Network, 2K Games and Windows Live.
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In August, Sony's PlayStation Network was taken down by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. ... The gaming network was also the target of a more severe hack in 2011, which led to the exposure of...data of more than 100 million customers. MORE
Arik Hesseldahl pulls on disappearing threads:
One common thread seen in previous attacks blamed on North Korea is the user of so-called wiping malware, which destroys the data stored the hard drive of a targeted system.
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Estimates vary as the the size and skill of the North's cyber warfare, but its army is said to have a group known as Unit 121 that dedicated to attacking the computer networks of its enemies. MORE
Then, Ryan Faughnder ties them together:
A thread on the website Reddit has been full of speculation, trying to piece together what happened.
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According to the thread, the hacker group claimed to get ahold of troves of sensitive data, including copies of actors' passports and contract documents.
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A person close to Sony...said that the scale of the breach was likely limited to internal passwords...and general financial projections. This person also said the North Korea connection was far-fetched. MORE
Meanwhile, Peter Bright heads to the cinema:
If Sony was really hacked by North Korea because of The Interview, the Koreans just made it a must-see. MORE
You have been reading IT Blogwatch by Richi Jennings and Stephen Glasskeys, who curate the best bloggy bits, finest forums, and weirdest websites…so you don't have to. Catch the key commentary from around the Web every morning. Hatemail may be directed to @RiCHi or itbw@richi.uk. Opinions expressed may not represent those of Computerworld. Ask your doctor before reading. Your mileage may vary. E&OE.
