The NSA has linked the WannaCry computer worm to North Korea

Post by DaiPlusPlus » Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 1:55 AM UTC

jorblumesea wrote: post #51

openasocket wrote: post #21

OK, so I know this is going to come up in the comments, but this is not remotely a baseless allegation. The Lazarus group (one of the names for the DPRK-associated APT group) is somewhat well known and is quite sophisticated. This is the same group that hacked Sony a few years back. And to preempt people who are going to chime in with "Sony was just some insider leaking data" there is extensive evidence showing it wa…

It also makes some practical sense, as NK regime has little in the way of hard foreign currency and bitcoins would be a great source of untraceable unsactionable income. Their previous adventures in illegal activities (counterfeit bills, meth, prostitution and slave labor) show they are not above deviousness to achieve stable income for the Kim state.

Post by 1001101 » Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 1:57 AM UTC

claytonjy wrote: post #42

threeseed wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The idea that the US needs to actively spread propaganda about North Korea is pretty ridiculous. You are aware that they have been sending missiles on a regular basis and inviting criticism from pretty much everyone. Who exactly is pro-North Korea that the US is trying to sway ?

While I don't think this is the case here, specifically, propaganda isn't always about swaying people from anti- to pro-; it could be for swaying people from "they are bad, but not that dangerous" to "they are dangerous enough that we should intervene with force"

Post by zabana » Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 1:57 AM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #41

zabana wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what has the US been doing for the last 50 years exactly ? If not dropping missiles and bombs on civilian populations abroad under the pretence of "spreading democracy" and "stopping terrorism"

Your comment is just nonsense on so many levels. 1) The US does not actively target civilians. That's a war crime. There are incidental deaths absolutely but if the US was intentionally trying to cause mass deaths they would simply drop a nuclear bomb a few more times. 2) What does this have to do with spreading propaganda, cyberattacks or North Korea ?

Post by jorblumesea » Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 1:58 AM UTC

DaiPlusPlus wrote: post #52

jorblumesea wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also makes some practical sense, as NK regime has little in the way of hard foreign currency and bitcoins would be a great source of untraceable unsactionable income. Their previous adventures in illegal activities (counterfeit bills, meth, prostitution and slave labor) show they are not above deviousness to achieve stable income for the Kim state.

Supposing North Korea has Bitcoins... how could they sell them in a way that grants them usable currency?

Post by claytonjy » Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 2:01 AM UTC

threeseed wrote: post #48

claytonjy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I don't think this is the case here, specifically, propaganda isn't always about swaying people from anti- to pro-; it could be for swaying people from "they are bad, but not that dangerous" to "they are dangerous enough that we should intervene with force"

So it's not North Korea testing ballistic missiles capable of destroying Tokyo, Seoul, Hawaii etc. Or the fact that they are actively developing nuclear weapons capable of hitting anywhere in the US. No it's not billions of lives that are the impetus to use force. Rather it's the huge sum of a few million dollars worth of Bitcoins i.e the cost of one of their more expensive bombs.