While cybersecurity experts now doubt that the North Korean government is responsible for the Sony Pictures hack related to the film The Interview, the FBI is doubling down on what U.S. officials said two weeks ago.
Back on Dec. 17, U.S. officials told the media that they officially believe that North Korea backed the hacking group that claimed responsibility for the attack, the Guardians of Peace (GOP). The next day, the White House said that the attack needs a “proportional response.”
However, in the days since those statements, cybersecurity experts have suggested that the White House and FBI may have been too hasty in placing blame on the North Koreans, even if they hated the movie. Sam Glines, who runs the cybersecurity firm Norse, even told CNN over the weekend that his company’s own investigation found that Pyongyang wasn’t responsible.
Experts say that the malware the GOP used, which was similar to what North Korea used in prior attacks, could have been used by any hacker. Still others theorize that the hackers’ work was too sophisticated to be done by Pyongyang.
Kurt Stammberger, a senior VP at Norse, told Fox News today that the company briefed the FBI on new information that suggests the hackers included a laid-off Sony employee. Norse said on its site that they have zeroed in on a group of at least six people, one of whom is a former employee.
However, the FBI issued a new statement today, standing by its conclusion that North Korea was behind the attack.
“The FBI has concluded the Government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Attribution to North Korea is based on intelligence from the FBI, the U.S. intelligence community, DHS, foreign partners and the private sector,” the bureau said. “There is no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident.”
image courtesy of Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com