North Korea Culpability In Sony Attack Supported By Classified Intelligence
North Korea is responsible for the cyber attack on Sony, and the American government has classified intelligence to support this assessment, according to media reports based on official and unofficial government statements.
The Daily Beast reported, “The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies for years have been tracking the hackers who they believe to be behind the cyber attack on Sony, according to current and former American officials.”
The same article later explained this intelligence is significant to the governmental belief that North Korea is behind the attack.
“Ever since the Obama administration made its public case against North Korea for the Sony hack, a slew of independent cybersecurity experts have been skeptical of the government’s public case against Pyongyang, calling it flimsy and circumstantial. But sources familiar with the investigation say that the most damning evidence against the Sony hackers was obtained in a secret, and years earlier, during previous intelligence-gathering efforts.”
Other media sources appeared to confirm this information based on an official briefing the Obama administration provided to reporters.
The Wall Street Journal was one such media source.
“Another senior official suggested Friday that private cybersecurity firms can’t properly assess the source of the attack because they lack access to classified U.S. intelligence.”
The article later said the U.S. government isn’t releasing this information because it doesn’t want to “jeopardize U.S. spying on North Korea.”
The Washington Post and the New York Times reported similar statements coming out of the same official briefing. However, although the briefing was official, the New York Times noted that the government official (or officials) providing this information remain anonymous “under guidelines set by the White House.”
.@PressSec on President Obama “imposing additional sanctions with respect to North Korea.” http://t.co/fAdgClHDfn pic.twitter.com/eUrJJ4pied
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) January 2, 2015
The Daily Beast article later said the U.S. government focuses significant attention on countering foreign cyber activities.
“The Defense Department also maintains a set of dossiers of known hackers operating overseas, including in China, which is both the source of pervasive cyber espionage against U.S. and has served as a home based for some of North Korea’s best-known cyber attack cells.”
The same article also pointed to an earlier Reuters article, which provides detail on how the accusation that North Korea was behind the cyber attack on Sony does not negate the possibility that others were involved with it.
The Inquisitr previously reported on allegations that someone other than North Korea was behind the cyber attack on Sony.
The White House announced new sanctions on North Korea on January 2. These new sanctions were issued in part as a response to the North Korean cyber attacks on Sony.
[Image via Associated Press/David Guttenfelder]
