“The Interview” Roil Takes Comedic Turn!!!! Journalists Are Idiots!!!! And There Are Lessons To Be Learned!!!!

So, earlier, we see where North Korea got a little pissy about being accused of the cyber threats against people potentially watching “The Interview”. 

North Korea issues new threat against US over hacking claims as Obama weighs action

North Korea issued a new threat against the United States late Sunday and accused President Barack Obama of “recklessly” spreading rumors that Pyongyang is behind last month’s devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

The long statement from the powerful National Defense Commission warned of strikes against the White House, Pentagon and “the whole U.S. mainland, that cesspool of terrorism.”

Such rhetoric is routine from North Korea’s massive propaganda machine during times of high tension with Washington. But the statement also underscores Pyongyang’s sensitivity at a movie whose plot focuses on the assassination of its leader Kim Jong Un, who is the beneficiary of a decades-long cult of personality built around his family dynasty. ….

…. “Our toughest counteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon and the whole U.S. mainland … by far surpassing the ‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” said the commission’s Policy Department in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The latest threat came hours after President Obama confirmed that he was considering returning North Korea to the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism. Obama, who previously promised in his year-end press conference on Friday to respond “proportionately” to the attack, has termed the breach as an act of “cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive” as opposed to an act of war….

…. But adding North Korea back could be difficult. To meet the criteria, the State Department must determine that a country has repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism, a definition that traditionally has referred to violent, physical attacks rather than hacking.

Obama’s other options, which include sanctions targeting high-level North Korean officials and retaliatory cyberattacks, are limited. The U.S. already has trade penalties in place and there is no appetite for military action.

Also Sunday, Sony lawyer David Boies told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the studio would distribute “The Interview,” a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as bumbling journalists tapped by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un. Sony scrapped a planned Christmas Day release of the film after receiving terror threats targeting movie theaters from the hackers, who refer to themselves as the Guardians of Peace. 

“What Sony has been trying to do is to get the picture out to the public,” while protecting the rights of company employers and moviegoers, Boies said. He added that theaters “quite understandably” decided not to show the film as scheduled because of the threats. “You can’t release a movie unless you have a distribution channel,” he said.

In the CNN interview, Obama renewed his criticism of Sony’s decision to shelve “The Interview,” despite the company’s insistence that its hand was forced by the theaters’ refusal to show it.

Obama suggested he might have been able to help address the problem if given the chance. “You know, had they talked to me directly about this decision, I might have called the movie theater chains and distributors and asked them what that story was,” he said.

Sony’s CEO has disputed that the company never reached out, saying he spoke to a senior White House adviser about the situation before Sony announced the decision. White House officials said Sony did discuss cybersecurity with the federal government, but that the White House was never consulted on the decision not to distribute the film.

“I think we’ve got to recognize that this is not a Sony security problem,” Boies said. “This is a national security problem.”

Sorry for the length on this, but, I will attempt to address many of the statements after we see this ……..

RETALIATION? North Korea’s Internet goes dark in possible cyberattack

North Korea experienced a massive Internet outage Monday, and some researchers and web watchers speculated that the country’s online connections could be under cyberattack.

The Internet outage comes less than a week after the U.S. vowed an unspecified response to a massive hacking attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment over the release of the comedy film “The Interview.” ……

…. North Korea is one of the least connected in the world. Few North Koreans have access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet. Though North Korea is equipped for broadband Internet, only a small, approved segment of the population has any access to the World Wide Web. More than a million people, however, are now using mobile phones in North Korea. The network covers most major cities but users cannot call outside the country or receive calls from outside.

Doug Madory, the director of Internet analysis at New Hampshire-based Dyn Research, a company that studies Internet connectivity, said the problems were discovered over the weekend and grew progressively worse to the point that “North Korea’s totally down.” …..

… Routing instabilities are not uncommon, but this particular outage had gone on for hours and was getting worse instead of better, Madory said.

“This doesn’t fit that profile,” of an ordinary routing problem, he said. “This shows something getting progressively worse over time.”

Another Internet technology service, Arbor Networks, which protects companies against hacker attacks, said its monitoring detected denial-of-service attacks aimed at North Korea’s infrastructure starting Saturday and persisting Monday. Such attacks transmit so much spurious data traffic to Internet equipment that it becomes overwhelmed, until the attacks stop or the spurious traffic can be filtered and discarded to allow normal connections to resume.

Okay, that was a lot of words for no more than what is going on. 

First of all, let me say that I’ve not seen any proof North Korea is synonymous with the Guardians of Peace. I would assume Sony and the US government have ways to determine exactly where the hack of Sony came from, but, I don’t really have much faith in the US government’s IT/Net Admin people.  Given Sony’s hackability, their proficiency in such matters is also in question.  It is entirely possible someone, or some entity is playing both Sony and the US government.  I also recognize this could be a scam by Sony. 

So, the story is Sony and a lot of other folks received threats, warning dire consequences if anyone watched “The Interview”.  Sony made a big deal out of this, and the theaters decided not to show the comedy.  Most Americans (other than some at Breitbart) wanted the movie shown.  I agree.  Call the idiotic bluff and if something horrid happens, respond ….. most severely. 

In the meantime, president Zero said we’d respond … somehow.  And, he wishes “he” was consulted.  Sony says they were in touch with the administration. 

North Korea got pissy, and then threatened us ….. because Sony and the government was blaming North Korea for the hacks and the threats. 

This reminds me of my grandchildren, except they’re a bit more mature.

I hope team Zero isn’t behind the internet outage.  If they are, in essence, we’re responsible for stopping both of the North Koreans from access to porn. 

For the record, a Denial of Service, or a DOS, isn’t a big trick.  It’s easily accomplished.  Depending upon how much traffic one is set up to receive, depends on how many connections one must use for a DOS.  But, it is nowhere close to a 1:1 ratio.  That is to say, one internet connection attempting a DOS can clog up a lot of bandwidth.  Want to impress me with a DOS?  Do it specific to the users.  But, then, that would require a real hack.  

For the media’s part, they’ve taken this to an obscene level.  Look again at some of what I quoted from the articles …….

the attack, has termed the breach as an act of “cybervandalism that was very costly, very expensive” as opposed to an act of war ….

The U.S. already has trade penalties in place and there is no appetite for military action.

“I think we’ve got to recognize that this is not a Sony security problem,” Boies said. “This is a national security problem.” 

This is because this wasn’t an act of war.  And because this wasn’t an act of war, there’s no appetite for military action.

The US gets threatened every day.  If we responded with the military every time we were threatened, the world would be a wasteland. 

Sony’s hack is a Sony security problem. 

It isn’t a US security problem unless the threats are credible. 

Look, I volunteer to watch the movie, in public, alone, or with anyone else who wishes to watch the damned thing.  Then, we’ll see if the US has a security problem, in this regard, or not.  It’s really not that hard. 

 

The Lesson ……

Few North Koreans have access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet.

Yeh.  You know, not every corporate computer needs access to the internet.  Not every government computer needs access to the internet. 

For those who haven’t figured this out, yet, you can have connectivity to the computers you need to have connectivity with, without being exposed to the internet. 

An intranet can keep you safe from the internet.  An intranet can be as large as you want it to be.  Any internet connection is a potential security breach. 

Why are US companies and governmental agencies subject to hacking and DOS attacks?  Because everyone believes they need to be on the internet.  They don’t.  In many ways, the corporate US and the US government should mimic North Korea’s view on internet access.  In all things, there is a price you pay for convenience.