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North Korea was responsible for Sony computer hack, US official says FBI poised to link China to Sony computer hack, reports say
(35 minutes later)
A US investigation into the hack of Sony’s computer system has determined that North Korea was behind the operation with a possible Chinese link, a US official said on Friday. The FBI is investigating whether China played a role in the hacking of Sony Pictures, according to officials speaking to Reuters.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the conclusion was to be announced later by federal authorities. More details on the investigation, which has so far centred on North Korea, are expected to come before President Obama addresses the press early on Friday afternoon, but an FBI spokeswoman told the Guardian they could not confirm reports.
The probe into the hack found North Korea was behind it and that there may be a Chinese link either through collaboration with Chinese actors or by using Chinese servers to mask the origination of the hack, the official said. The investigation into the hack found North Korea was involved and that there may also be a Chinese link, either through collaboration with Chinese actors or the use of Chinese servers to mask the origin of the attack, a US official said.
More details soon... The FBI have been looking into the Sony hacking scandal since the beginning of December, and had previously stated in public they had been unable to establish a link with North Korea and its notorious Bureau 121 hacking unit.
But anonymous federal law enforcement officials told various media outlets over the past 48 hours that a link between the hack and North Korea had been established.
On Thursday, the White House stopped short of blaming North Korea, but described the hack as “a serious national security matter” and said it was considering a proportional response.
Sony has been left reeling from the November attack, after thousands of confidential documents, including employee social security numbers, personal emails, unreleased films and executive pay were published online.
The hacking group, going by the name of Guardians of Peace, demanded that Sony Pictures pull the release of The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco, which depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
On Wednesday, Sony pulled the release of the film after threats were made against cinemagoers and major US theater groups cancelled screenings of The Interview.
Eddie Schwartz, president of White Ops, a cyber security specialist, said many hacks leave a digital “fingerprint” that could allow the authorities to identify the culprit.
Investigators will begin by looking at the malware, the software used by the hackers and then look at the next moves they made. “Different groups have different patterns of activity that they take on once they enter a system. Those patterns are like a fingerprint, almost like a playbook. You’ll see that they go after certain servers first, that they conduct operations in a certain way.”
Depending on the amount of information Sony has been able to gather, investigators will be able to build a profile of the hack and compare it to past attacks, said Schwartz. He said there was only a “small universe of teams” capable of pulling off a hack as large as this.
Schwartz said North Korea was capable of pulling off the Sony hack, but that in past cases third parties had been shown to be responsible, and it was unclear who had commissioned them.