Today the FBI have allegedly confirmed the connection between North Korean networks and the Sony Entertainment hack.
FBI confirms North Korea behind Sony hack
FBI concludes that the North Korean gov't is responsible for Sony cyberattack
Their conclusion seems to be based on:
- Code similarities compared to previous North Korean cyber attacks
- Matching encryption methods used in previous North Korean cyber attacks
- Similar data deletion methods used in previous North Korean cyber attacks
- Hard-coded IP addresses in the malware pointing to North Korean infrastructure
- The tools / applications used in the attack are similar to the ones used in a cyber attack on South Korean banks / media last year.
I was quite convinced that this whole debacle was just another act of lulz unleashed upon Sony by neckbearded North Americans eager to test their might, similar to the attack back in 2011 that killed PSN for close to a month & scooped the personal details of 70 million PSN user accounts, but if we're to believe the FBI it looks like this was a genuine political cyber attack, lame.
That being said, I may be fishing here, but all of the above evidence, as is usually the case with cyber crimes, could have easily been spoofed by a North American hacker to stir the pot between the US and North Korea.