- The malware used by the group had fingerprints and components of known Iranian, Korean and Russian malware and is a package sold on black market forums.
- The malware used was nearly identical to the that used by the Iranian group who attacked the Aramco oil company in Saudia Arabia in 2012.
- Linguistic analysis of the communications by #GOP suggest a native Russian author.
- SONY had given the US State Department a preview of The Interview in July 2014 (after the Mundt-Smith anti-propaganda law was immolated) and SONY was contracting with RAND Corporation specialist Bruce Bennett, a specialist on nuclear deterrence (NK is a nuclear state) and North Korea.
- Leaked emails with Bennett have him discussing the effectiveness of the movie to cause instability in North Korea.
Now McAfee is claiming the group had anti-trust motivations?
Err... what? Maybe I'm dense, but if you want to cause instability in a dictatorship, a blatantly Hollywood-style comedy movie where some American dudes kill the nation's leader in a graphically gruesome fashion is not what I'd expect. If anything, it will help North Korean propaganda. ("See those American Imperialists insult our great country! Death to America!")
Besides, how many North Koreans would ever see this movie, anyway?
I think there's a pretty good case that North Korean sympathizers were involved in the hack. Despite current 'folklore' that the original hacks were about a ransom this appears to come from early reporting where news headlines read that data was being held ransom for demands and it was sort of just assumed to be monetary.
The pastebins and messages from #GOP themselves are concerned about the 'movie of terrorism' and promised to give a Christmas gift to those following the leaks. The Christmas gift was leaked email conversations between CEO Lynton and strategic state specialists and where several mentions are made about the involvement of the State Department in the analysis of the movie.
To complicate things though the malware used had seen previous use in Iranian attacks against Saudi oil companies and linguistic analysis suggests that the author of the #GOP messages was likely a native Russian speaker.
[+] [-] xnull1guest|11 years ago|reply
- The malware used was nearly identical to the that used by the Iranian group who attacked the Aramco oil company in Saudia Arabia in 2012.
- Linguistic analysis of the communications by #GOP suggest a native Russian author.
- SONY had given the US State Department a preview of The Interview in July 2014 (after the Mundt-Smith anti-propaganda law was immolated) and SONY was contracting with RAND Corporation specialist Bruce Bennett, a specialist on nuclear deterrence (NK is a nuclear state) and North Korea.
- Leaked emails with Bennett have him discussing the effectiveness of the movie to cause instability in North Korea.
Now McAfee is claiming the group had anti-trust motivations?
The SONY hack gets more and more interesting.
[+] [-] yongjik|11 years ago|reply
Besides, how many North Koreans would ever see this movie, anyway?
[+] [-] mkautzm|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GabrielF00|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adamnemecek|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] PhasmaFelis|11 years ago|reply
I haven't followed the story, and I don't know if that's still current. I just thought it was interesting to see such a big name bucking the current.
[+] [-] xnull2guest|11 years ago|reply
The pastebins and messages from #GOP themselves are concerned about the 'movie of terrorism' and promised to give a Christmas gift to those following the leaks. The Christmas gift was leaked email conversations between CEO Lynton and strategic state specialists and where several mentions are made about the involvement of the State Department in the analysis of the movie.
To complicate things though the malware used had seen previous use in Iranian attacks against Saudi oil companies and linguistic analysis suggests that the author of the #GOP messages was likely a native Russian speaker.
[+] [-] anigbrowl|11 years ago|reply