Items tagged with North Korea
Over 1,000 North Korean citizens try to defect to South Korea each and every year, and for each of them, the sudden sense of freedom must feel overwhelming. Naturally, North Korea isn't happy with anyone who decides to leave, and the country certainly has the means to seek out and track those who've done so. While the country may not send out investigators to follow everyone who defects, the North Korean government has other creative ways to keep tabs on its former citizens, including creating its own sophisticated malware. More specifically, this mobile device malware will read your personal information, and even upload your photos to a remote cloud server. Clearly, if you want to defect...
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We are only months removed from the massive WannaCry cyberattack that hit hundreds of thousands of computers in over 150 countries, crippling some hospitals in the United Kingdom. WannaCry became an overnight global scare after spreading far and wide within the first few hours. Up until now, it was not clear where exactly the worm originated. According to the Trump administration, North Korea is to blame, just as security outfit Symantec suspected months ago. In an op-ed piece published in The Wall Street Journal, homeland security adviser Thomas P. Bossert publicly attributed the massive WannaCry cyberattack to North Korea, adding that the U.S. is not making the allegation lightly. "It is based...
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U.S. officials have long blamed North Korea for the digital attack that embarrassed Sony and nearly derailed The Interview late last year. But the idea that a tiny dictatorship could effectively censor a major movie studio in the United States hasn’t been sitting well with many. As unlikely as a successful North Korean cyberattack sounds, U.S. officials are sticking to the story and a report by The New York Times explains why they’re so sure: the National Security Agency has infiltrated North Korea’s networks for years. The NSA’s involvement might explain why President Obama was willing weigh in on the attack, which he was careful to characterize as “an act...
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There are plenty in the cybersecurity industry that contend that North Korea couldn’t have possibly orchestrated the devastating hack on Sony in retaliation for the comedic film The Interview. In mid-December, cybersecurity analyst Marc Rogers dismissed the FBI’s assertion that North Korea was behind the attacks, stating, “The broken English looks deliberately bad and doesn’t exhibit any of the classic comprehension mistakes you actually expect to see in ‘Konglish’. i.e it reads to me like an English speaker pretending to be bad at writing English.” Rogers went on to add; “The fact that the code was written on a PC with Korean locale & language actually makes it less likely to be North Korea....
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The war of words between the United States and North Korea is escalating. Following the Sony breach that took place in late November (all because of a comedy film called The Interview), the FBI and the Obama Administration pointed fingers at North Korea for orchestrating the attack. North Korea has claimed innocence throughout the aftermath, but indicated in early December that it condoned the “righteous deed.” The Obama administration stated that it would “respond proportionately” to the hack, and not long after, North Korea was the on the receiving end of an “unprecedented” Internet takedown which sent the country even further into the stone ages — if only for a few hours.The U.S. didn't claim...
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When North Korea's laughable Internet connection went down last month, many wondered if that was the result of U.S. forces responding "proportionately" to the massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, just as President Barack Obama promised just days prior to the outage. North Korea certainly thought so. However, the response Obama alluded to came on Friday in the form of sanctions against the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Executive Order points to North Korea's "numerous provocations," and in particular the shenanigans against Sony that Obama called "cyber-vandalism," along with threats against cinemas and moviegoers, as justification for the sanctions.Image...
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South Korean activist Park Sang-hak has alerted the media that he's planning to drop 100,000 DVDs and USB devices containing the movie The Interview into North Korea sometime later this month. Sang-hak is a North Korean defector who partnered up with the Human Rights Foundation, a U.S.-based non-profit that's financing production of DVDs and USBs containing the movie with Korean subtitles. The move is expected to infuriate North Korea, which the FBI said is responsible for the massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment last month. Though some have questioned the evidence and whether or not North Korea was actually involved in the attack, U.S. officials...
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Despite #GOP’s, the hacker group claiming responsibility for the massive data breach at Sony Pictures, efforts to make sure “The Interview” is never shown in theaters, such is not the case. While Sony originally announced that the movie would not be shown in theaters, it later rescinded that decision and will be showing the movie in select theaters. However, Google has announced that “The Interview” is now available on YouTube and Google Play.According to Google chief legal officer David Drummond, Sony had been contacting various companies to ask if they would make “The Interview” available online. While Google was eager to help, Drummond stated that the security implications were Google’s main...
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On Monday, North Korea’s Internet was taken offline. The country suffered a complete Internet outage that lasted around nine hours before it was restored on Tuesday. However, the cause for the outage has yet to be determined. According to Dyn, a company based in the U.S. that monitors Internet infrastructure, the reason for the Internet outage in North Korea could range from technological glitches to hacking attacks. The company said that the country’s internet links, which pass through China, were unstable on Monday and then went completely offline "I haven't seen such a steady beat of routing instability and outages in [North Korea] before," said Dyn director of internet analysis Doug...
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Breaking news, folks -- Sony has decided not to bow to pressure from hackers to cancel the Christmas Day debut of "The Interview," at least not outright. In a statement pulled from NBC's Facebook page and making the rounds on the web, Sony confirmed the film will have a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2014. "We have never given up on releasing 'The Interview' and we're excited our movie will be in a number of theaters on Christmas Day," said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Entertainment. "At the same time, we are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theaters so that this movie reaches the largest possible audience." "I want to thank...
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If you mess with the bull, you’ll get the horns. Sony became the victim of a massive cyberattack that took place in late November. But not only was Sony a victim, but numerous Sony employees were caught up in the mess when sensitive personal information like social security numbers were leaked onto the internet. After the hack came threats against Sony employees and their families, followed by terrorist threats against movie theaters that dared to show the film, “The Interview,” which resulted in major cinema chains withdrawing their support for the film. Without backing from big names like Regal Entertainment and Cinemark, Sony announced that it would not release the movie."Hey guys, can someone...
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Last Wednesday, Sony decided not to release “The Interview” in theatres as the hacking group Guardians of Peace threatened 9/11-style attacks at theaters that showed the movie. However, it appears Sony has decided that it will show “The Interview” in some way according to a company lawyer. On Sunday, attorney for Sony Pictures David Boies said on NBC’s Meet the Press, “Sony only delayed this.” Boies was referring to Sony’s decision to cancel the movie’s Christmas Day release as major theatre chains such as AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, Cineplex Entertainment, and Regal Entertainment Group refused to show the movie. In a statement, Sony announced it had made the...
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It often takes political satire to put situations into perspective, and leave it to the hilarious minds at Saturday Night Live to shining a proper light on North Korea and its involvement in hacking Sony Pictures Entertainment. Actor Mike Myers reprised his role as Dr. Evil, who was none too happy that Kim Jong-un is being lumped together with the world's biggest and most evil super villains. As far as Dr. Evil is concerned, both North Korea and Sony are giving "evil a bad name," something he's obviously qualified to speak about during his repeated attempts to hold the world hostage for millions and billions of dollars, only to be thwarted by that pesky Austin Powers. "I mean what the F, people?...
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What do you call it when a foreign country conducts a massive cyberattack on U.S. soil, steals data such as personally identifiable information and movie scripts, and threatens the lives of Americans if a particular movie is played? An act of "cyber-vandalism," of course! That's the term President Barack Obama used to described North Korea's shenanigans against Sony Pictures Entertainment, which ultimately led to Sony canceling the Christmas Day debut of "The Interview," a far-fetched comedy involving an assassination attempt against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The White House weighed its options carefully when deciding whether or to not even publicly...
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U.S. officials debated whether or not to officially blame North Korea for a massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, though not for long. President Barack Obama said during a new conference yesterday that the evidence suggests North Korea is indeed responsible and promised a response, one that will come "proportionally and in a space, time, and manner that we choose." Naturally, North Korea is still maintaining that it had nothing to do with the attack, calling the accusations "groundless slander."A spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry took things to a new level by saying the country wants to help find the real culprit in a joint investigation with the U.S., adding that...
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At first, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wasn’t so certain that North Korea was the responsible party for the massive cyberattack on Sony. Earlier this month, FBI cyber division assistant director Joe Demarest simply stated, “There is no attribution to North Korea at this point.” Today, however, there is no doubt that North Korea was behind the attack. North Korea was no doubt incensed by the planned release of the movie “The Interview,” which details a plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. The FBI released a statement this afternoon concluding that it "now has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions.” “North...
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North Korea has gone on record denying involvement in a recent cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, and now White House officials are debating if they should go on record accusing the country's leader Kim Jong-un and his regime of what now amounts to an act of cyberterrorism. Following an investigation into the matter, it appears there's no question that North Korea was "centrally involved" in the hack and subsequent threats against Americans, though confronting the culprit comes with certain consequences. Let's back up a moment. The hack against Sony resulted in the theft of a wide range of data, everything from passport and other personally identifiable information regarding actors...
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Since the massive security breach at Sony Pictures has occurred, speculation has been that North Korea was behind it. Sony, with the help of cybersecurity firm Mandiant and the FBI, has been investigating the perpetrators behind the breach. However, a senior FBI official stated has stated that government agency has not confirmed that North Korea is behind the attack, “There is no attribution to North Korea at this point,” said Federal Bureau of Investigation assistant director of its cyber division Joe Demarest on Tuesday at a cybersecurity conference sponsored by Bloomberg Government. This is the first time that a senior FBI official has said anything publicly regarding the...
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Don't accuse North Korea of having a sense of humor. Such a claim can't be made after it complained to the United Nations about a comedy flick starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in which the two are on a mission to assassinate North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un. All that's left is for Dennis Rodman to give the movie two thumbs down. In "The Interview," an American television host and his producer score an opportunity to interview Kim Jong Un. This prompts the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit the two men to rid the world of North Korea's leader. There's no mistaking the film for anything other than a comedy, but it still doesn't sit well with North Korea, which is accusing the United States...
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At this point in time, it's pretty-well assured that the vast majority of people are getting a little annoyed by North Korea's ongoing antics, and while we'd love to see things settle down and people be reasonable, that's not the restrictive state's way. It seems that the country has only one outcome in mind, and for that reason, hacktivist group Anonymous has stepped-in in an attempt to annoy it right back. In the best way it knows how, Anonymous has begun targeting social networking accounts and websites related to the country, such as news site Uriminzokkiri and its related Flickr page. It also claims to have 15,000 usernames and passwords snatched from a North Korean university...
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Fire up your Google Maps app and you'll now find that there's more detailed information for North Korea, a territory that up until now was left mostly blank. A community of citizen cartographers collaborated using Google Map Maker to fill in many of the blanks, including road names and points of interest. "We know this map is not perfect — one of the exciting things about maps is that the world is a constantly changing place," Google stated in a blog post. "We encourage people from around the world to continue helping us improve the quality of these maps for everyone with Google Map Maker. From this point forward, any further approved updates to the North Korean maps in Google Map Maker...
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Here's an interesting tale: Google's executive chairman is about to go on a trip. But it's not just "any" trip, and it's hardly a vacation. He's about to travel to the Hermit Kingdom -- a place that's all but impossible to venture to unless you're a highly regarded political figure, or a member of a limited tour group where the guide never lets you out of their site. The destination? North Korea. One of the most disconnected, isolated societies in the world is about to be visited by the executive chairman of a company that excels at providing a near-limitless amount of free information. Culture clash? Indeed. Eric Schmidt will be riding shotgun alongside New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, on what's...
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