US sanctions North Korea over Sony cyberattack

[Lite Beer]

US sanctions North Korea over Sony cyberattack
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) — The United States imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday, targeting the North's defense industry and spy service in an attempt to punish Pyongyang for a crippling cyberattack against Sony. The sanctions marked the first public act of retribution by the U.S. for North Korea's alleged involvement.

Although it was unclear how painful the blow would be, as North Korea already is under tough U.S. sanctions for its nuclear program, the move signaled that that the U.S. was not backing away from its insistence that North Korea is responsible for the cyberattack. North Korea has denied involvement, and some cybersecurity experts say it's possible the North wasn't to blame.

"The order is not targeted at the people of North Korea, but rather is aimed at the government of North Korea and its activities that threaten the United States and others," President Barack Obama wrote in a letter to House of Representatives and Senate leaders.

Calls to North Korea's mission to the United Nations and to a North Korean diplomat rang unanswered.

Until now, the U.S. had never put sanctions on a foreign nation in direct retaliation for a cyberattack on an American company. But U.S. officials said the North's behavior had "crossed a threshold" that necessitated a swift and decisive response.

The U.S. decision also put North Korea on notice that payback would not be limited to those who perpetrated the attack. Ten people identified in the sanctions are there because they are associated with the North Korean government, not because of any known involvement with the cyberattack, Obama administration officials said.

The sanctions were aimed at increasing the pressure on North Korea by undermining its defense sector and making it nearly impossible for North Korean officials to do business overseas, said the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

Anyone who works for or helps North Korea's government is fair game to be sanctioned under the executive order that Obama signed Friday while vacationing in Hawaii, officials said.

The sanctions also apply to three organizations closely tied to North Korea's government: the country's primary intelligence agency, a state-owned arms dealer that exports missile and weapons technology, and the Korea Tangun Trading Corp., which supports defense research.

All three entities were already subject to sanctions by the U.S., which has an extensive sanctions regime aimed at North Korea's nuclear program. Re-designating those groups under Obama's new executive order appeared to be primarily a symbolic move.

Those sanctioned will have any assets in the U.S. frozen and will be barred from using the U.S. financial system. Americans will be prohibited from doing business with them.

The cyberattack led to the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files, then escalated to threats of terrorist attacks against U.S. movie theaters.

North Korea has denied involvement, while expressing fury over the Sony comedy film "The Interview," which focuses on the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. When Sony initially called off release of the film, Obama criticized the decision and warned against letting foreign dictators impose censorship in the U.S.

But cybersecurity firms have raised the possibility that a Sony insider could be behind the attack and said the evidence the FBI has made public doesn't conclusively point to North Korea.

U.S. officials dismissed those arguments, arguing that independent cyber-experts don't have access to the same classified information as the FBI.

"We stand firmly behind our call that the DPRK was behind the attacks on Sony," said a senior Obama administration official. The North's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Last week, a nearly 10-hour shutdown of North Korean websites prompted widespread speculation that the U.S. had launched a counterattack. But White House spokesman Josh Earnest, in a statement, said Friday that the new sanctions "are the first aspect of our response."

U.S. officials continued on Friday to refuse to say whether the U.S. was responsible for shutting down North Korea's Internet.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-03

[borisloosebrain]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

[NeverSure]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

[bim]

By sanctions the US mean they were funding there enemy all along. Much like the great leader being educated in Switzerland or his cousins recent trip to France for a hospital visit. The BBC last week showed a programme on a university in NK being funded by the UK and US which included student exchanges between those countries. I find it amazing that on one hand they rightly condone NK and its ideology whilst funding them with the other. Simply crazy.

Edited January 3, 2015 by bim

[Loptr]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

Cough, cough, bullsiht... NK has a total of 3000 IP addresses and possesses zero capability to perform this type of attack...

Cyber security companies that have been investigating this incident point at disgruntled former employees as the culprits... The hackers had internal knowledge of Sony's lack of security and had UserIDs / passwords... The volume of data downloaded from Sony's network was in the hundreds of terabytes... Even at 1gb network speeds, it would take over 2 years for this volume of data to be downloaded "over the wire"... This has been proven... But of course, what would I know... I've only been involved in network security for over 25 years...

You undying faith in US intelligencia is quite telling... The FBI says it's true, so it must be true... How was that koolaid NS?

[NeverSure]

By sanctions the US mean they were funding there enemy all along. Much like the great leader being educated in Switzerland or his cousins recent trip to France for a hospital visit. The BBC last week showed a programme on a university in NK being funded by the UK and US which included student exchanges between those countries. I find it amazing that on one hand they rightly condone NK and its ideology whilst funding them with the other. Simply crazy.

There is a difference between rejecting an evil government and still wanting to help the people.

[NeverSure]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

Cough, cough, bullsiht... NK has a total of 3000 IP addresses and possesses zero capability to perform this type of attack...

Cyber security companies that have been investigating this incident point at disgruntled former employees as the culprits... The hackers had internal knowledge of Sony's lack of security and had UserIDs / passwords... The volume of data downloaded from Sony's network was in the hundreds of terabytes... Even at 1gb network speeds, it would take over 2 years for this volume of data to be downloaded "over the wire"... This has been proven... But of course, what would I know... I've only been involved in network security for over 25 years...

You undying faith in US intelligencia is quite telling... The FBI says it's true, so it must be true... How was that koolaid NS?

I'm glad that you sit in on FBI briefings rather than getting your information from (cough) wherever.

Funny but I didn't see a link to the FBI website to back up ONE WORD you said.

[manzan]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

ofcourse who needs a shred of solid evidence when you can economically target and cause suffering of innocent citizens from another nation, because something happened and it is just blamed on the convenient enemy.

they're doing the same to russia,syria, iran. it's time people wake up and see what is really going on, before it is to late

[bim]

By sanctions the US mean they were funding there enemy all along. Much like the great leader being educated in Switzerland or his cousins recent trip to France for a hospital visit. The BBC last week showed a programme on a university in NK being funded by the UK and US which included student exchanges between those countries. I find it amazing that on one hand they rightly condone NK and its ideology whilst funding them with the other. Simply crazy.

There is a difference between rejecting an evil government and still wanting to help the people.

So you think one penny of aid goes to the people. Utter rubbish. The US military industrial complex needs enemies. End off.

[mania]

Funny but I didn't see a link to the FBI website to back up ONE WORD you said.

Helloooooooo you just said they dont share & if the right hand is waving a flag we do not

need to know what the left is doing

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

Edited January 3, 2015 by mania

[NeverSure]

By sanctions the US mean they were funding there enemy all along. Much like the great leader being educated in Switzerland or his cousins recent trip to France for a hospital visit. The BBC last week showed a programme on a university in NK being funded by the UK and US which included student exchanges between those countries. I find it amazing that on one hand they rightly condone NK and its ideology whilst funding them with the other. Simply crazy.

There is a difference between rejecting an evil government and still wanting to help the people.

So you think one penny of aid goes to the people. Utter rubbish. The US military industrial complex needs enemies. End off.

Did you read your own post about the US and UK providing funding for a NK university and promoting student exchanges? Were those students from the "military industrial complex" only? (Cough, cough.)

[bim]

By sanctions the US mean they were funding there enemy all along. Much like the great leader being educated in Switzerland or his cousins recent trip to France for a hospital visit. The BBC last week showed a programme on a university in NK being funded by the UK and US which included student exchanges between those countries. I find it amazing that on one hand they rightly condone NK and its ideology whilst funding them with the other. Simply crazy.

There is a difference between rejecting an evil government and still wanting to help the people.

So you think one penny of aid goes to the people. Utter rubbish. The US military industrial complex needs enemies. End off.

Did you read your own post about the US and UK providing funding for a NK university and promoting student exchanges? Were those students from the "military industrial complex" only? (Cough, cough.)

Those students were interviewed by the BBC reporter. It was clear that they were brainwashed and only had bad things to say about there time in the US. These western educated students will go on to serve the regime in NK not bring some western style revolution. What did the Western Education the great leader go on to achieve. You could say an even more dangerous now educated leader not one won over by the his western education.

[umbanda]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

A country cannot allow its corporations to make fun of another country's president.... If do...face the consequences!.....In this "new world" what the US says or do it is not tolerate anymore...specially when is wrong. Face it!

[Scott]

Off-topic, inflammatory, troll posts and replies removed.

[NeverSure]

-snip-

...the population of the US is so dumbed down now watching reality TV and eating extra large double douche burgers they do not notice.

The population (private sector) of the US is so dumbed down that it owns technology and its economy is roaring in overdrive while most of the rest of the world is staring into its porridge wondering what the hell happened.

Maybe some other countries should pay attention to the dumbed down people of the US.

That is, if the people of those countries could afford to pay attention.

[Bakeman]

Difficult to impose economic sanctions on a country that has a terrible economy to begin with.

[Don Aleman]

It is my New Years wish that these new sanctions cause something even resembling " an act of war " by NK so someone can clear that section of the Korean peninsula off the face of the earth !

[Tchooptip]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it.

Like the Weapons of Mass Destruction for Sadam (sorry again)

[hawker9000]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

A country cannot allow its corporations to make fun of another country's president.... If do...face the consequences!.....In this "new world" what the US says or do it is not tolerate anymore...specially when is wrong. Face it!

It's called free speech. You face it! And world leaders face criticism everyday! The US is certainly no exception. Have you never seen a political cartoon? The fact that Kim Jung Un's comic value is so over-the-top, not to mention entirely self-inflicted, is hardly Sony's (or the US's) fault.

Cannot allow... What rubbish.

[slipperylobster]

Best part is how we can switch off their whole internet capability...any time we want.

Wonder if that is enough to ground any nukes?

[mania]

Best part is how we can switch off their whole internet capability...any time we want.

Wonder if that is enough to ground any nukes?

Their Nukes have never been a threat

But what this will achieve is ever more taking sides.

US is pushing very hard in many directions all at once now

Whether it is WWIII or something more modern based in economic/cyber/currency warfare

they seek remains to be seen. But we the little folks do not have all the info

Yet there is much going on to see & wonder about.

But IMHO there is no "Best Part" as you put it.

Edited January 3, 2015 by mania

[Lite Beer]

North Korea blasts US over sanctions

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea issued a furious statement Sunday slamming the United States for imposing sanctions against government officials and the defense industry for a cyberattack on Sony.

It again denied any role in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files.

An unnamed spokesman of North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the U.S. of "groundlessly" stirring up hostility toward Pyongyang and claimed that the new sanctions would not weaken the country's military.

The spokesman was quoted by the country's Korean Central News Agency as saying that the sanctions had proven counter-productive "as shown by DPRK's measures to further sharpen the treasured sword of Songun," he said, referring to Pyongyang's official "military-first" policy. DPRK refers to the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The U.S. on Friday sanctioned 10 North Korean government officials and three organizations, including Pyongyang's primary intelligence agency and state-run arms dealer, on what the White House described as an opening move in the respond toward the cyberattack on Sony.

The sanctions will have limited effect as North Korea already is under tough U.S. sanctions over its nuclear program. President Barack Obama also warned Pyongyang that the U.S. is considering whether to put North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, which could jeopardize aid to the country on a global scale.

North Korea has expressed fury over the Sony comedy flick "The Interview," which depicts the fictional assassination of leader Kim Jong Un. However, it continues to deny involvement in the cyberattack against Sony, which later escalated to threats of terrorist attacks against movie theaters.

Sony initially decided to call off the film's release after movie theaters decided not to show the film. After Obama criticized that decision, Sony decided to release the film in limited theaters and online.

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-04

[fullcave]

Looks fairly sophisticated..

[NeverSure]

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it.

Like the Weapons of Mass Destruction for Sadam (sorry again)

No, I that was Tony Blair speaking to Parliament, and Madeleine Albright as early as 1998. Australian troops fought in Iraq until 2009.

[rickirs]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

USA. Hub of sanctions.

If someone attacked your country you'd roll over and ask them to scratch your belly.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. The FBI isn't about to share its information with people who don't have a need to know.

A country doesn't attack the US or its people without payback. If that's too simple to understand, so be it.

If the FBI says they did it, they did it. alt=cheesy.gif>

Like the Weapons of Mass Destruction for Sadam (sorry again) alt=cheesy.gif>

The FBI had no connection with the allegations of WMD's in Iraq. The WMD allegations came straight from President Bush, VP Cheney, and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice that Saddam was running a clandestine nuclear program that was only "six months from a crude nuclear device" without an iota of evidence. The CIA also found no evidence.

[rickirs]

The USA is usually clever in its "counter attacks" against terrorism than using very limited sanctions, especially against North Korea. The USA likes quid-pro-quo responses, like "you nuke me once, I nuke you twice back." Sanctions don't fit the USA modis operandi against this attack.

I have to think the sanctions are feints to distract the NK leadership while a more covert and painful counter-assualt is carried out. Perhaps a Stuxnet-style computer virus to abort or destroy the next NK long-range launch, SCRAM a nuclear reactor, or wipeout NK's financial institution accounts. But such cyber attacks may require time to gather covert human support in NK (Obama-"a time of our choosing") and safeguard US worldwide assets for any NK cyber response.

There also may be some other undercurrents that the USA may be engaged with which require time for diplomacy in association with any counter-terrorism actions. For example, if NK agents received foreign state-support in NK's cyber attack such as passports, travel arrangements, computer expertise, and human intelligence.

[lil fluffy clouds]

Here we go!....Who's rigging this war then?....

[stoli]

Looks fairly sophisticated..

At least he is using the same Logictech rollerball mouse that I use. This is the best mouse ever made. If you find one here, buy it! (Good use of photoshop to place it in the picture).

Edited January 5, 2015 by stoli

[Don Aleman]

Maybe, just maybe, the little fat guy with a cheap haircut will really fly of the handle, commit some foolish move that can be construed as an " Act Of War " and one of many nations can justifiably use N. Korea as a nuclear test site. I'do it just based on his goofy haircut !

[slipperylobster]

In retaliation...

They are making their own Hobbit Movie....as satellite photography has indicated..

usa soldier........north korean hobbit.......south korean soldier

Edited January 9, 2015 by slipperylobster