Sony was hoping for another comedy hit in their stocking this Christmas. Maybe they will get the box office magic they are expecting from the Seth Rogen – James Franco comedy “The Interview.” But any profit will be mitigated by the fact that they are getting annihilated by a cyber attack that has opened the books of the company in an unprecedented way.
Reporters are saying that “it’s very clear” a nation state has committed this cyber crime. Some tech experts are blaming the Sony hacking scandal on North Korea.
Why would North Korea care about another slapstick yuckfest from these guys? Well, the plot of the movie is simple: Two reporters are hired to interview the head of North Korea. Then the CIA recruits the idiots to kill him. Hijinks, reportedly, ensue.
While most nation states would look at that plot, roll their eyes and get on with life, North Korea is NOT most nation states. First, they are totalitarian in every sense of the word. Next, their leader is not a political official. He is revered as a deity. In fact the current leader, Kim Jong Un, is the third in a theocratic line. Folks over there don’t take too kindly to anyone poking fun at their godlike president.
Of course, all that could be nonsense speculation. Nobody is currently certain who pulled off the worst cyber attack…ever. Well, at least nobody who is talking to the media. Somebody certainly knows. And that somebody could include various nations’ cyber crime organizations.
But that’s neither here nor there, really. The real lesson for everyone here is that you truly don’t know who’s listening in when you do what you do online. Could almost literally be anyone. Including a national government with a chip on its epaulette-bedecked shoulders.
Juda Engelmayer's Blog 