"The Interview" FFA Approved, except by TobiasFunke (1 Viewer)

[3C's]

If it was actually North Korea hacking Sony, wouldn't it make more sense that they hired somebody outside the country to do all the leg work? I have a hard time believing that there is somebody inside of North Korea that is sophisticated enough to get this done.

12 year old kids are capable of doing these things on a $400 Dell computer. I'm pretty sure North Korea is capable of this.

The number of people with access to the Internet in North Korea is very small and their internet speed to the outside world is reportedly 2.5 gbit/sec. The government does train hackers but I really doubt they have this ability. The pool of people that have the ability to learn these hacking skills is in the hundreds of million in first world countries, the pool of people that NK has to teach these skills to is probably in the hundreds or maybe thousands.

Meh - if the government wants to train people, they can do it.

Take the capital Pyongyang - about 3.5 million people, toss out 50% as too old/young/feeble, leaving 1.75 million people - now take the top 1% and you have 17,500 of the best and brightest minds in North Korea to work with.

They could do it - but I am not sure they actually did it. If the media reports generally think it is NK, I am inclined to think it was someone else.

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

 

[Sinn Fein]

If it was actually North Korea hacking Sony, wouldn't it make more sense that they hired somebody outside the country to do all the leg work? I have a hard time believing that there is somebody inside of North Korea that is sophisticated enough to get this done.

12 year old kids are capable of doing these things on a $400 Dell computer. I'm pretty sure North Korea is capable of this.

The number of people with access to the Internet in North Korea is very small and their internet speed to the outside world is reportedly 2.5 gbit/sec. The government does train hackers but I really doubt they have this ability. The pool of people that have the ability to learn these hacking skills is in the hundreds of million in first world countries, the pool of people that NK has to teach these skills to is probably in the hundreds or maybe thousands.

Meh - if the government wants to train people, they can do it.

Take the capital Pyongyang - about 3.5 million people, toss out 50% as too old/young/feeble, leaving 1.75 million people - now take the top 1% and you have 17,500 of the best and brightest minds in North Korea to work with.

They could do it - but I am not sure they actually did it. If the media reports generally think it is NK, I am inclined to think it was someone else.

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

 

[3C's]

If it was actually North Korea hacking Sony, wouldn't it make more sense that they hired somebody outside the country to do all the leg work? I have a hard time believing that there is somebody inside of North Korea that is sophisticated enough to get this done.

12 year old kids are capable of doing these things on a $400 Dell computer. I'm pretty sure North Korea is capable of this.

The number of people with access to the Internet in North Korea is very small and their internet speed to the outside world is reportedly 2.5 gbit/sec. The government does train hackers but I really doubt they have this ability. The pool of people that have the ability to learn these hacking skills is in the hundreds of million in first world countries, the pool of people that NK has to teach these skills to is probably in the hundreds or maybe thousands.

Meh - if the government wants to train people, they can do it.

Take the capital Pyongyang - about 3.5 million people, toss out 50% as too old/young/feeble, leaving 1.75 million people - now take the top 1% and you have 17,500 of the best and brightest minds in North Korea to work with.

They could do it - but I am not sure they actually did it. If the media reports generally think it is NK, I am inclined to think it was someone else.

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

Okay, and what's changed about my post that It's the US govt that says it was NK?

 

[Sinn Fein]

If it was actually North Korea hacking Sony, wouldn't it make more sense that they hired somebody outside the country to do all the leg work? I have a hard time believing that there is somebody inside of North Korea that is sophisticated enough to get this done.

12 year old kids are capable of doing these things on a $400 Dell computer. I'm pretty sure North Korea is capable of this.

The number of people with access to the Internet in North Korea is very small and their internet speed to the outside world is reportedly 2.5 gbit/sec. The government does train hackers but I really doubt they have this ability. The pool of people that have the ability to learn these hacking skills is in the hundreds of million in first world countries, the pool of people that NK has to teach these skills to is probably in the hundreds or maybe thousands.

Meh - if the government wants to train people, they can do it.

Take the capital Pyongyang - about 3.5 million people, toss out 50% as too old/young/feeble, leaving 1.75 million people - now take the top 1% and you have 17,500 of the best and brightest minds in North Korea to work with.

They could do it - but I am not sure they actually did it. If the media reports generally think it is NK, I am inclined to think it was someone else.

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

Okay, and what's changed about my post that It's the US govt that says it was NK?

:sigh: What are they saying now? Seems like they have gone silent on the claim, not quite backtracking, yet.

 

[PatsWillWin]

Watched it last night, OK movie but definitely not theater worthy.

Maybe the hack was an inside job so more people would want to watch it out of curiousity?

Thought this all along

The hack was most likely an inside job, but too much stuff was leaked for it to be a publicity stunt. I think the PR people finally got their act together to use the fact the hack happened as a publicity stunt, but it had been coordinated ahead of time, it would have been much more smooth.

I thought it could be a (brilliant) PR stunt until the "Guardians of Peace" made the threat citing 9/11. I just can't see a studio crossing that line, the backlash would be tremendous if uncovered.

 

[McGarnicle]

Definitely some laughs, but overall, not worth the $5.99 or the two hours to watch it. Franco in particular is pretty annoying.

 

[3C's]

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

Okay, and what's changed about my post that It's the US govt that says it was NK?

:sigh: What are they saying now? Seems like they have gone silent on the claim, not quite backtracking, yet.

So, no update then?

 

[Sinn Fein]

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

Okay, and what's changed about my post that It's the US govt that says it was NK?

:sigh: What are they saying now? Seems like they have gone silent on the claim, not quite backtracking, yet.

So, no update then?

thats what I was asking...

 

[fatness]

The hack was most likely an inside job, but too much stuff was leaked for it to be a publicity stunt. I think the PR people finally got their act together to use the fact the hack happened as a publicity stunt, but it had been coordinated ahead of time, it would have been much more smooth.

If it had been coordinated ahead of time, it would have been leaked. Sony can't secure anything. Half their network security people are probably incontinent.

 

[3C's]

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

I believe the US govt said it was NK at that time, and possibly is still saying that. What's there to update?

That it is pretty clearly not North Korea - despite the early press, and US pronouncements

Okay, and what's changed about my post that It's the US govt that says it was NK?

:sigh: What are they saying now? Seems like they have gone silent on the claim, not quite backtracking, yet.

So, no update then?

thats what I was asking...

Well, I'm confused. What is it that you're asking?

 

[Josie Maran]

Can you two take your lame pissing contest to PM's? Or maybe a motel off the interstate?

 

[3C's]

Can you two take your lame pissing contest to PM's? Or maybe a motel off the interstate?

He started it!

 

[Dentist]

Definitely some laughs, but overall, not worth the $5.99 or the two hours to watch it. Franco in particular is pretty annoying.

i think it was worth the 2 hours. I think Franco was supposed to be playing an annoying guy, so acting-wise it was solid.

I would've been less satisfied if I'd payed $6

 

[cstu]

At New York, David Edelstein says that critics of the film who reduce it to a silly and sophomoric bromance, "don't know what the hell they're talking about." He adds:

It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

 

[Tom Servo]

At New York, David Edelstein says that critics of the film who reduce it to a silly and sophomoric bromance, "don't know what the hell they're talking about." He adds:

It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

 

[The General]

At New York, David Edelstein says that critics of the film who reduce it to a silly and sophomoric bromance, "don't know what the hell they're talking about." He adds:

It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

Between bong rips I bet this is exactly what Seth Rogen was saying to his friends when he was making the movie.

 

[lumpy19]

Loved it

Everything I hoped for from a film with Rogen and Franco

 

[fatness]

About those North Korean hackers. They weren't.

US cybersecurity experts say they have solid evidence that a former employee helped hack Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system — and that it was not masterminded by North Korean cyberterrorists.

One leading cybersecurity firm, Norse Corp., said Monday it has narrowed its list of suspects to a group of six people — including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, according to reports.

The investigation of the Sony hacking by the private companies stands in stark contrast to the finding of the FBI, which said Dec. 19 its probe traced the hacking — which ended up foiling the planned wide release of the Hollywood studio’s “The Interview” — to North Korea.

Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president at Norse, said he used Sony’s leaked human-resources documents and cross-referenced the data with communications on hacker chat rooms and its own network of Web sensors to determine it was not North Korea behind the hack.

“When the FBI made this announcement, just a few days after the attack was made public, it raised eyebrows in the community because it’s hard to do that kind of an attribution that quickly — it’s almost unheard of,” Stammberger told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview from San Francisco.

“All the leads that we did turn up that had a Korean connection turned out to be dead ends,” he said.

The information found by Norse points to collaboration between an employee or employees terminated in a May restructuring and hackers involved in distributing pirated movies online that have been pursued by Sony, Stammberger told Bloomberg.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/30/new-evidence-sony-hack-was-inside-job-cyber-experts/

 

[AcerFC]

Read it made 15 million in sales plus 2.8 in theatres. Not a bad opening for a movie that was pulled.

I thought it was decent. Like Pineapple express, it starts off real solid and then takes an odd turn for the worse and then keeps going.

 

[3C's]

About those North Korean hackers. They weren't.

US cybersecurity experts say they have solid evidence that a former employee helped hack Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system — and that it was not masterminded by North Korean cyberterrorists.

One leading cybersecurity firm, Norse Corp., said Monday it has narrowed its list of suspects to a group of six people — including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, according to reports.

The investigation of the Sony hacking by the private companies stands in stark contrast to the finding of the FBI, which said Dec. 19 its probe traced the hacking — which ended up foiling the planned wide release of the Hollywood studio’s “The Interview” — to North Korea.

Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president at Norse, said he used Sony’s leaked human-resources documents and cross-referenced the data with communications on hacker chat rooms and its own network of Web sensors to determine it was not North Korea behind the hack.

“When the FBI made this announcement, just a few days after the attack was made public, it raised eyebrows in the community because it’s hard to do that kind of an attribution that quickly — it’s almost unheard of,” Stammberger told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview from San Francisco.

“All the leads that we did turn up that had a Korean connection turned out to be dead ends,” he said.

The information found by Norse points to collaboration between an employee or employees terminated in a May restructuring and hackers involved in distributing pirated movies online that have been pursued by Sony, Stammberger told Bloomberg.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/30/new-evidence-sony-hack-was-inside-job-cyber-experts/

Not so fast my friend. http://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-deflects-doubts-on-source-of-sony-hack-1419986755

Investigators at FireEye Inc., the security firm hired by Sony to investigate the breach, similarly stand by the conclusion North Korea was involved, according to people close to the case.

Executives at Crowdstrike Inc., a cybersecurity firm with close ties to the U.S. government, also sees links between the malware used against Sony and a North Korean hacking group it has been tracking since 2006.

“I’m not going to go say 100% it is North Korea, but we have a high degree of confidence,” said Adam Meyers, head of Crowdstrike’s intelligence team.

Dmitri Alperovitch of Crowdstrike used to work for McAfee and has been following NK for years. He says it was them. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/debating-north-koreas-involvement-sony-hack/

ETA: The WSJ article might ask you to login. Seems linking to it from Google works. maybe this will work

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

At New York, David Edelstein says that critics of the film who reduce it to a silly and sophomoric bromance, "don't know what the hell they're talking about." He adds:

It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

Was it momentous?

Absolutely. Yes. It lives up to the hype. Critics who say it’s little more than a smutty “bromance” that happens to feature a caricature of Kim Jong-un don’t know what the hell they’re talking about. It’s certainly smutty — and infantile. Maybe half the jokes miss. But it is a truly savage work. It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

How do you know what happens in North Korea?

There’s a book that just came out called Without You There Is No Us by a woman who taught the sons of North Korea’s elite — she was at a university run by Christian evangelicals who were horrified when she wrote about her experiences — and the cultural insularity in this day and age is mind-blowing. I also recommend people watch the terrific documentary Kimjongilia, which explores the beyond-Soviet-style propaganda of North Korea under Kim Jong-un’s father. It would be hilarious if it weren’t so tragic — and in The Interview it’s hilarious and tragic. This is an insane country. In the opening of the film, a little girl sings at a formal North Korean ceremony and calls in beauteous tones for the women of the United States to be raped by the beasts of the jungle — and that’s one of the nicer phrases. When TV host Dave Skylark and his producer arrive in North Korea, Kim puts a fat kid on a street corner to wave at them and thereby demonstrate that kids in the country aren’t starving. There’s also a Potemkin Village grocery store in which the shelves of food turn out to be painted on a cloth.

That’s barbed, all right, but how is it “savage”?

That’s an ahistorical and rather ignorant question, David. If you draw a phallus and #### on a poster of a leader who’s supposedly descended from heaven, you’re committing an execution-worthy crime. But the movie goes deeper. Randall Park plays Kim Jong-un as a devious child-man who still rages over his dead dad’s refusal to treat him like a man. He weeps and ####s himself when confronted about it on live TV in the title interview with James Franco’s Skylark — which triggers the climactic bloodbath in the control room, when the technicians try to terminate the broadcast and Skylark’s producer Seth Rogen gets his fingers bitten off in close-up. ...

World Police did a better job of this and it wasn't exactly "momentous", but it was at least really funny. But also, then doesn't that mean that the film is essentially political?

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

At New York, David Edelstein says that critics of the film who reduce it to a silly and sophomoric bromance, "don't know what the hell they're talking about." He adds:

It means not just to expose Kim Jong-un as a fraud but to emasculate him, which is about the most punk thing you can do to a repressive, totalitarian, murderous, self-proclaimed god of a closed but increasingly porous state.

Other good stuff in here:

...Will this still have a chilling effect on political satire?

Of course. Political satire is rare in Hollywood to begin with and the idea that a country or even a radical group in this country could make meaningful threats might be the final straw. Best to throw the occasional, veiled barb into a superhero picture and leave it at that. Not enough people have pointed out, though, that this was more than an attack on the U.S. Sony is a Japanese company, and any chance North Korea has to stick it to the Japanese, they’ll take — probably in concert with China. And given Japan’s actions in the early part of the 20th century, who can entirely blame them?

Finally, about those Sony hacks: Would you have printed the emails if you were in charge of the media?

Without question, no. I’d have done everything to suppress them. Stealing them was a crime and this wasn’t about larger political questions. I’d have certainly published Snowden’s and Assange’s revelations, for example. Having said that, I am, like many other self-appointed ethicists, torn in two directions. Once the emails were out there I read them avidly. And in general — apart from those moronic, racist exchanges about Obama’s taste in movies and the pay disparity between women and men — the level of discourse was higher than I expected. These weren’t just businesspeople. They cared about the art, too. If Amy Pascal loses her job over this, it will be an outrage. The only thing about which we disagree is The Interview. She hated it; I think it’s a blast.

 

[PinkydaPimp]

About those North Korean hackers. They weren't.

US cybersecurity experts say they have solid evidence that a former employee helped hack Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system — and that it was not masterminded by North Korean cyberterrorists.

One leading cybersecurity firm, Norse Corp., said Monday it has narrowed its list of suspects to a group of six people — including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, according to reports.

The investigation of the Sony hacking by the private companies stands in stark contrast to the finding of the FBI, which said Dec. 19 its probe traced the hacking — which ended up foiling the planned wide release of the Hollywood studio’s “The Interview” — to North Korea.

Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president at Norse, said he used Sony’s leaked human-resources documents and cross-referenced the data with communications on hacker chat rooms and its own network of Web sensors to determine it was not North Korea behind the hack.

“When the FBI made this announcement, just a few days after the attack was made public, it raised eyebrows in the community because it’s hard to do that kind of an attribution that quickly — it’s almost unheard of,” Stammberger told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview from San Francisco.

“All the leads that we did turn up that had a Korean connection turned out to be dead ends,” he said.

The information found by Norse points to collaboration between an employee or employees terminated in a May restructuring and hackers involved in distributing pirated movies online that have been pursued by Sony, Stammberger told Bloomberg.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/30/new-evidence-sony-hack-was-inside-job-cyber-experts/

Not so fast my friend. http://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-deflects-doubts-on-source-of-sony-hack-1419986755

Investigators at FireEye Inc., the security firm hired by Sony to investigate the breach, similarly stand by the conclusion North Korea was involved, according to people close to the case.

Executives at Crowdstrike Inc., a cybersecurity firm with close ties to the U.S. government, also sees links between the malware used against Sony and a North Korean hacking group it has been tracking since 2006.

“I’m not going to go say 100% it is North Korea, but we have a high degree of confidence,” said Adam Meyers, head of Crowdstrike’s intelligence team.

Dmitri Alperovitch of Crowdstrike used to work for McAfee and has been following NK for years. He says it was them. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/debating-north-koreas-involvement-sony-hack/

ETA: The WSJ article might ask you to login. Seems linking to it from Google works. maybe this will work

We arent going to know the truth for a while. And frankly until all the details are released for folks to scrutinize we cant trust any one persons hunch. My gut feeling is that NK didnt have much to do with it. But who knows.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Posted this further up but I heard this on NPR and found it pretty persuasive:

Based on the writing style, Argamon wanted to identify the most likely native language of the hackers. He considered four: Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and German.

And in his analysis, he dissected sentences like: "One beside you can be our member." Meaning that anyone you meet might secretly be a member of the hackers' group.

It's a word-for-word translation from Russian — not from any of the other languages. And that's the pattern that led him to a finding he describes as significant: The hackers used phrasing most consistent with the Russian language.

"There was some consistency with Korean, but much, much less," Argamon says. "Which indicates that although it's possible that these messages were written by people whose native language is Korean, it is far more likely that they were Russians."

Argamon only has preliminary results so far, but he says much more analysis must be done in order to draw a strong conclusion — both by him, and by the FBI.

http://wnpr.org/post/doubts-grow-over-us-claims-north-korean-role-sony-hack

Of course even if they were Russian, anyone could have hired them, even Americans or North Koreans or Russians. Pick your motive, corporate intrigue, petulant revenge by KJU, or extortion. I'm guessing if this is true, given the edgy state of things with Putin, the last thing the US government would want to do is point the finger back at Russia, but that may have been the source.

 

[3C's]

About those North Korean hackers. They weren't.

US cybersecurity experts say they have solid evidence that a former employee helped hack Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system — and that it was not masterminded by North Korean cyberterrorists.

One leading cybersecurity firm, Norse Corp., said Monday it has narrowed its list of suspects to a group of six people — including at least one Sony veteran with the necessary technical background to carry out the attack, according to reports.

The investigation of the Sony hacking by the private companies stands in stark contrast to the finding of the FBI, which said Dec. 19 its probe traced the hacking — which ended up foiling the planned wide release of the Hollywood studio’s “The Interview” — to North Korea.

Kurt Stammberger, senior vice president at Norse, said he used Sony’s leaked human-resources documents and cross-referenced the data with communications on hacker chat rooms and its own network of Web sensors to determine it was not North Korea behind the hack.

“When the FBI made this announcement, just a few days after the attack was made public, it raised eyebrows in the community because it’s hard to do that kind of an attribution that quickly — it’s almost unheard of,” Stammberger told Bloomberg News in a telephone interview from San Francisco.

“All the leads that we did turn up that had a Korean connection turned out to be dead ends,” he said.

The information found by Norse points to collaboration between an employee or employees terminated in a May restructuring and hackers involved in distributing pirated movies online that have been pursued by Sony, Stammberger told Bloomberg.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/30/new-evidence-sony-hack-was-inside-job-cyber-experts/

Not so fast my friend. http://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-deflects-doubts-on-source-of-sony-hack-1419986755

Investigators at FireEye Inc., the security firm hired by Sony to investigate the breach, similarly stand by the conclusion North Korea was involved, according to people close to the case.

Executives at Crowdstrike Inc., a cybersecurity firm with close ties to the U.S. government, also sees links between the malware used against Sony and a North Korean hacking group it has been tracking since 2006.

“I’m not going to go say 100% it is North Korea, but we have a high degree of confidence,” said Adam Meyers, head of Crowdstrike’s intelligence team.

Dmitri Alperovitch of Crowdstrike used to work for McAfee and has been following NK for years. He says it was them. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/debating-north-koreas-involvement-sony-hack/

ETA: The WSJ article might ask you to login. Seems linking to it from Google works. maybe this will work

We arent going to know the truth for a while. And frankly until all the details are released for folks to scrutinize we cant trust any one persons hunch. My gut feeling is that NK didnt have much to do with it. But who knows.

Apparently the FBI has some damning info which they won't be releasing any time soon.

 

[3C's]

Posted this further up but I heard this on NPR and found it pretty persuasive:

Based on the writing style, Argamon wanted to identify the most likely native language of the hackers. He considered four: Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and German.

And in his analysis, he dissected sentences like: "One beside you can be our member." Meaning that anyone you meet might secretly be a member of the hackers' group.

It's a word-for-word translation from Russian — not from any of the other languages. And that's the pattern that led him to a finding he describes as significant: The hackers used phrasing most consistent with the Russian language.

"There was some consistency with Korean, but much, much less," Argamon says. "Which indicates that although it's possible that these messages were written by people whose native language is Korean, it is far more likely that they were Russians."

Argamon only has preliminary results so far, but he says much more analysis must be done in order to draw a strong conclusion — both by him, and by the FBI.

http://wnpr.org/post/doubts-grow-over-us-claims-north-korean-role-sony-hack

Of course even if they were Russian, anyone could have hired them, even Americans or North Koreans or Russians. Pick your motive, corporate intrigue, petulant revenge by KJU, or extortion. I'm guessing if this is true, given the edgy state of things with Putin, the last thing the US government would want to do is point the finger back at Russia, but that may have been the source.

The thing I found interesting about their research is that they had 15 instances of Russian style and 9 of Korean style. That data is not nearly enough to make any conclusions yet they say it was highly more likely Russians.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

Posted this further up but I heard this on NPR and found it pretty persuasive:

Based on the writing style, Argamon wanted to identify the most likely native language of the hackers. He considered four: Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and German.

And in his analysis, he dissected sentences like: "One beside you can be our member." Meaning that anyone you meet might secretly be a member of the hackers' group.

It's a word-for-word translation from Russian — not from any of the other languages. And that's the pattern that led him to a finding he describes as significant: The hackers used phrasing most consistent with the Russian language.

"There was some consistency with Korean, but much, much less," Argamon says. "Which indicates that although it's possible that these messages were written by people whose native language is Korean, it is far more likely that they were Russians."

Argamon only has preliminary results so far, but he says much more analysis must be done in order to draw a strong conclusion — both by him, and by the FBI.

http://wnpr.org/post/doubts-grow-over-us-claims-north-korean-role-sony-hack

Of course even if they were Russian, anyone could have hired them, even Americans or North Koreans or Russians. Pick your motive, corporate intrigue, petulant revenge by KJU, or extortion. I'm guessing if this is true, given the edgy state of things with Putin, the last thing the US government would want to do is point the finger back at Russia, but that may have been the source.

The thing I found interesting about their research is that they had 15 instances of Russian style and 9 of Korean style. That data is not nearly enough to make any conclusions yet they say it was highly more likely Russians.

Maybe it was a joint effort, the Ruskies with the muscle and know-how and the NK'eans calling the shots.

 

[3C's]

Posted this further up but I heard this on NPR and found it pretty persuasive:

Based on the writing style, Argamon wanted to identify the most likely native language of the hackers. He considered four: Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and German.

And in his analysis, he dissected sentences like: "One beside you can be our member." Meaning that anyone you meet might secretly be a member of the hackers' group.

It's a word-for-word translation from Russian — not from any of the other languages. And that's the pattern that led him to a finding he describes as significant: The hackers used phrasing most consistent with the Russian language.

"There was some consistency with Korean, but much, much less," Argamon says. "Which indicates that although it's possible that these messages were written by people whose native language is Korean, it is far more likely that they were Russians."

Argamon only has preliminary results so far, but he says much more analysis must be done in order to draw a strong conclusion — both by him, and by the FBI.

http://wnpr.org/post/doubts-grow-over-us-claims-north-korean-role-sony-hack

Of course even if they were Russian, anyone could have hired them, even Americans or North Koreans or Russians. Pick your motive, corporate intrigue, petulant revenge by KJU, or extortion. I'm guessing if this is true, given the edgy state of things with Putin, the last thing the US government would want to do is point the finger back at Russia, but that may have been the source.

The thing I found interesting about their research is that they had 15 instances of Russian style and 9 of Korean style. That data is not nearly enough to make any conclusions yet they say it was highly more likely Russians.

Maybe it was a joint effort, the Ruskies with the muscle and know-how and the NK'eans calling the shots.

Anything is possible. At this point I'm not doubting the FBI/NSA/CIA. Still feel there was someone on the inside though in at least a "helpful" position.

 

[Doug B]

Of course even if they were Russian, anyone could have hired them, even Americans or North Koreans or Russians. Pick your motive, corporate intrigue, petulant revenge by KJU, or extortion. I'm guessing if this is true, given the edgy state of things with Putin, the last thing the US government would want to do is point the finger back at Russia, but that may have been the source.

Looking like any and all scenarios are pretty much equally in play.

And when you get down to it ... since a negative can't generally be proven, there won't ever be a way to rule out the involvement of agents provacateurs, be they North Korean, Russian, both, or something else altogether. The people that pushed the first domno may have been fairly far removed from the on-the-keyboad hackers themselves.

 

[Doug B]

Anything is possible. At this point I'm not doubting the FBI/NSA/CIA. Still feel there was someone on the inside though in at least a "helpful" position.

Could be "all of the above". I'd bet, though, without someone on the inside, the execution the whole thing would have been a lot more difficult and less effective. I'd also bet that the insider was not only not the mastermind, but probably doesn't even personally know who the mastermind actually is.

 

[3C's]

If it was actually North Korea hacking Sony, wouldn't it make more sense that they hired somebody outside the country to do all the leg work? I have a hard time believing that there is somebody inside of North Korea that is sophisticated enough to get this done.

12 year old kids are capable of doing these things on a $400 Dell computer. I'm pretty sure North Korea is capable of this.

The number of people with access to the Internet in North Korea is very small and their internet speed to the outside world is reportedly 2.5 gbit/sec. The government does train hackers but I really doubt they have this ability. The pool of people that have the ability to learn these hacking skills is in the hundreds of million in first world countries, the pool of people that NK has to teach these skills to is probably in the hundreds or maybe thousands.

Meh - if the government wants to train people, they can do it.

Take the capital Pyongyang - about 3.5 million people, toss out 50% as too old/young/feeble, leaving 1.75 million people - now take the top 1% and you have 17,500 of the best and brightest minds in North Korea to work with.

They could do it - but I am not sure they actually did it. If the media reports generally think it is NK, I am inclined to think it was someone else.

It's not media that thinks they did. It's the US govt that says it was NK.

Then I am certain it was someone else.

Update?

This work? https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2015/01/19/why-the-us-was-so-sure-north-korea-hacked-sony-it-had-a-front-row-seat/

 

[3C's]

Funny tidbit from the NYT article.

In fact, when, Gen. James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, had an impromptu dinner in early November with his North Korean counterpart during a secret mission to Pyongyang to secure the release of two imprisoned Americans, he made no mention of Sony or the North’s growing hacking campaigns, officials say.

In a recent speech at Fordham University in New York, Mr. Clapper acknowledged that the commander of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Kim Yong-chol, with whom he traded barbs over the 12-course dinner, was “later responsible for overseeing the attack against Sony.” (General Clapper praised the food; his hosts later presented him with a bill for his share of the meal.)

Cheap bastards.

 

[cstu]

The Interview may have made its way into North Korea.

According to BBC, a South Korean activist claims he has launched copies of The Interview on DVD over the border to North Korea four times, most recently on Saturday.

Lee Min-bok, who is self-described North Korea defector, told the AFP, I launched thousands of copies and about a million leaflets on Saturday, near the western part of the border."

He claims he did the launches privately in remote areas.

 

[cstu]

“North Korea has begun the expected crackdown to prevent the movie ‘The Interview’ from polluting the ‘people’s paradise,’” reports Nightwatch, a national-security intelligence newsletter. “A three-star general heads up a border task force to keep the movie out. Task force members are going house to house searching for copies of the movie.” Any North Korean caught owning or watching the film is likely to be charged with a capital crime.

 

[Hang 10]

Did he use a catapult?

 

[Hang 10]

Also, how are folks in NK supposed to watch the movie without dvd players or...electricity?

 

[Mr.Pack]

Definitely some laughs, but overall, not worth the $5.99 or the two hours to watch it. Franco in particular is pretty annoying.

Finally saw this.

The movie was terrible.

Franco was terrible.

It did have a couple laughs, but overall it was a terrible movie.

 

[17seconds]

I actually quite enjoyed this movie. On a scale of 1 to 5 in this particular genre, it's a 4.

Inside we are same-same. But.. different. But still same.

 

[fantasycurse42]

Still haven't seen it

 

[ConnSKINS26]

North Korea has 3-star generals? And their job is keeping out goofy Franco comedies? That kinda implies there's a 1-star general somewhere out there hunting South Korean squirrels that have crossed the border, right?