Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Sony Hack Was An Act of War, Not A ´Crime´
Investor's Business Daily ^ | 12/18/2014 | IBD Staff

Posted on 12/19/2014 5:02:07 AM PST by IBD editorial writer

Cyberwar: Like a bomb detonating in slow motion, the scale and destructiveness of the Sony hack has only now become fully apparent. Telling Americans to go to the movies doesn't cut it as a government response.

At first, it seemed as if Sony was the latest victim of hackers who delight in stealing confidential information and sending it along to WikiLeaks. The hackers called themselves "Guardians of Peace" and claimed, "We want equality. Sony doesn't." Sony initially labeled the event as "an IT matter."

For a while, the hack seemed to threaten only the reputations of some Hollywood big shots, as the leaks exposed outsized salaries, mean-spirited backbiting and embarrassing private emails.

It wasn't until eight days later that Sony said North Korea might be involved. And it was only this Tuesday — 22 days after the attack — that the hackers revealed their true and frightening purpose: to censor a movie that the North Korean government found offensive.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...


TOPICS: Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: amypascal; china; clooney; cyberwar; georgeclooney; guardiansofpeace; hollywood; nkorea; northkorea; pyongyang; sony; theinterview; waronterror

1 posted on 12/19/2014 5:02:07 AM PST by IBD editorial writer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer

Oh please.

Act of war? Then you send you kids to die because a movie got pulled.


2 posted on 12/19/2014 5:07:59 AM PST by VanDeKoik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer

The intent of killing the messenger and the destroying the message is an act of direct control and war indeed. It is the cyber equivalent of the Taleban attack on girl school children to deny them access to education and expression development.

Except here it does not affect 150 school kids, it involves millions of potential viewers at once in a single attack.


3 posted on 12/19/2014 5:11:48 AM PST by lavaroise (A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer
Lil Kim is not afraid of the Groveler.


4 posted on 12/19/2014 5:15:38 AM PST by Bon mots (American Exceptionalism becomes American Acceptionalism under this regime... :()
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer
Wired claims that 'The Interview' was not the real target of the attack. This may be an inside job or an attempt at blackmail, i.e. a crime not an act of war.

More neocons beating the war drums.

5 posted on 12/19/2014 5:16:28 AM PST by who_would_fardels_bear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer

While it may have been an act of war , the attack was made on a Japanese company. The attack, actually a raid rather than an invasion, was to put the Japanese mega companies on notice of what is to come.

North Korea wants something from Japan and the movie in America is the leverage applied to get results at home in Japan. Toyota, Hitachi, Mitsui, Toshiba...... are being encouraged to assert their will on the Japanese government to attain what ever the Norks are wanting.

At base, it is ordinary blackmail, extortion


6 posted on 12/19/2014 5:20:55 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: VanDeKoik

You are right, it was a movie this time...what happens when the next demand is no more football because they use a pigskin...or that only muslims who implement sharia law may be president of the US...the slope is slippery and we are trending down...


7 posted on 12/19/2014 5:22:19 AM PST by Delta Dawn (Fluent in two languages: English and cursive.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: VanDeKoik

How about when a hack gets in to a power grid?


8 posted on 12/19/2014 5:23:39 AM PST by Crazieman (Article V or National Divorce. The only solutions now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: bert

Being a Japanese corporation, one would think they have friends and associates with the Yakuza and they could extract vengeance even in North Korea. Probably not very easy even for them but they could pull it off.


9 posted on 12/19/2014 5:24:59 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: bert

I agree-

This was an attack on SONY- and the Norks hate the
Japanese- even though Sony pictures is run by liberal
Americans- the Norks think SONY pulls the strings directly

- Remember- the NORKS sent a submarine to Japan-

TO KIDNAP AVERAGE CITIZENS!!!- to teach their commandos
a true Japanese dialect!- WTF!- they are one paranoid
crazy country


10 posted on 12/19/2014 5:27:48 AM PST by mj1234
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: who_would_fardels_bear

North Korea is the warmonger and provocator here. iBD errs a bit in talking about millions of assets lost, but the real damage is 200 million worth of free speech power and effort wiped out and severely compromised for the foreseable future.


11 posted on 12/19/2014 5:29:46 AM PST by lavaroise (A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: wally_bert

I take your point but.....

I did not dare to go further with my thought. I also did not declare the move to attack the Japanese corporation Sony in America to be wise.

It is my view that the hoopla in America is a side show to the main event that is taking place in board rooms in Tokyo


12 posted on 12/19/2014 5:39:52 AM PST by bert ((K.E.; N.P.; GOPc.;+12, 73, ..... Obama is public enemy #1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer
By all accounts the North Korean hackers were rank amateurs and there is no doubt that the cyber warfare areas in the Defense Department could bring what little networking North Korea has to its knees without breaking a sweat. But why would you do so in response to Sony's breakin and advertise to the world at least some of your capabilities? Wouldn't you save it for a serious conflict when you really need it?

All Sony would need to do is quietly go to the hacker community in the U.S., offer a sizeable reward to the ones who can do the most damage to North Korea, and sit back and watch the results.

13 posted on 12/19/2014 5:58:41 AM PST by DoodleDawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bert

I bet those board room conversations wouldn’t need much in terms of translation.


14 posted on 12/19/2014 6:12:22 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer
... the hackers IRS revealed their true and frightening purpose: to censor a movie free speech that the North Korean Obama government found offensive.

There. I fixed it. So, now the media and Liberals get their panties in a wad...?

15 posted on 12/19/2014 6:14:32 AM PST by Gritty (Political Correctness is meant to humiliate you and force you to acquiesce in the lies-Mark Steyn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer
Not in my world. Sony is a multinational company that I grew up thinking of as being Japanese.

Pearl Harbor was an act of war. Same for the attacks on 9/11.

This looks more like a company's failure to maintain its security followed by its capitulation to extortion.

Hard to know for sure what the real story is or what it is distracting us from.

16 posted on 12/19/2014 6:52:12 AM PST by GBA (America needs political rehab. Our political parties are addicted to O.P.M.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer

The FBI is fully investigating and the White House is getting daily briefings. When Lockheed had 5000 engineering drawings for the F-35 stolen, the FBI and WH couldn’t have given less of a crap. Just shows where their priorities are.


17 posted on 12/19/2014 7:34:25 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Visualize whirled peas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IBD editorial writer

Could this be a “Wag the Dog” scenario?

I see an early beneficiary is Al Sharpton, who will now have some say over the content of Sony’s films.

And who is Sharpton allied with?

Holder and Obama.

We have had serious security breaches and hacks of even DOD computers and ....silence.

But we should go to war over a hack of Sony Pictures?

Something smells here.


18 posted on 12/19/2014 7:37:21 AM PST by exit82 ("The Taliban is on the inside of the building" E. Nordstrom 10-10-12)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GBA

Thank you for you clear and concise reply.

“Not in my world. Sony is a multinational company that I grew up thinking of as being Japanese.

Pearl Harbor was an act of war. Same for the attacks on 9/11.

This looks more like a company’s failure to maintain its security followed by its capitulation to extortion.

Hard to know for sure what the real story is or what it is distracting us from.”


19 posted on 12/19/2014 7:39:34 AM PST by Grampa Dave (The Democrats, who run America are too old, too rich, and too very/very white elitist losers!.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Grampa Dave

What is sure is Hollywood is going to go the dinosaure media way.

Frankly I only watch Youtube videos lately. Movies and TV fantasy is so far from reality, and the plots suck, the actors are fake. Blah


20 posted on 12/19/2014 7:57:53 AM PST by lavaroise (A well regulated gun being necessary to the state, the rights of the militia shall not be infringed)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson