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N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

nytimes.com

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Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#41

Post by astkaasa »

I've read enough comments about "We already knew that blah blah blah ...", "What's interesting is that blah blah blah ...". Seems that you guys get used to the reality so fast, the only thing you can do is trying to dig into some detail about this kind of news and to avoid the discussing about whether this kind of things is RIGHT or WRONG from the beginning!

I'm planing to watch POI for the second time, may your god bless you American, and may there be a real-hero like Reese or Carter.

But we all know that most people are just as normal as Lionel, they don't have the courage to face the problem alone. So let's just wait for your bright future. LOL

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#43

Post by thejosh »

chroma wrote: post #27

> Mr. Jang said that as time went on, the North began diverting high school students with the best math skills into a handful of top universities, including a military school specializing in computer-based warfare called Mirim University, which he attended as a young army officer. I realize I'm not engaging the core topic being discussed, but stories like this are why I'm surprised people like Will Scott haven't gott…

Yes, and that same argument can be made for pretty much any other country... why teach computer science to US, as they have shown they can't be trusted - they will probably end up in the NSA!

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#44

Post by onewaystreet »

nitrogen wrote: post #29
onewaystreet wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's perfectly fine to be OK with your government hacking other countries while also being mad when those other countries do the same thing (though it's foolish to be shocked when it happens).

It's perfectly fine to be OK with your government hacking other countries while also being mad when those other countries do the same thing (though it's foolish to be shocked when it happens). I would disagree that this opinion is fine; this is only fine if one selfishly considers oneself more important than the 7000000000+ other people on the planet.

Do you really not consider yourself and family more important than most of the 7000000000+ other people on the planet? There are plenty of people more important than me, but I wouldn't sacrifice myself for any of them. In the same vein, it would be foolish for me, a US citizen, to say that my government should intentionally weaken itself for the benefit of the citizenry of other countries.

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#45

Post by burnstek »

thejosh wrote: post #43
chroma wrote: post #27

> Mr. Jang said that as time went on, the North began diverting high school students with the best math skills into a handful of top universities, including a military school specializing in computer-based warfare called Mirim University, which he attended as a young army officer. I realize I'm not engaging the core topic being discussed, but stories like this are why I'm surprised people like Will Scott haven't gott…

Yes, and that same argument can be made for pretty much any other country... why teach computer science to US, as they have shown they can't be trusted - they will probably end up in the NSA!

Not at all. In the US, we computer scientists have a wealth of opportunities to which we can apply our knowledge and education. Presumably in NK, you are limited to doing their government's bidding.

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#46

Post by toufka »

chroma wrote: post #27

> Mr. Jang said that as time went on, the North began diverting high school students with the best math skills into a handful of top universities, including a military school specializing in computer-based warfare called Mirim University, which he attended as a young army officer. I realize I'm not engaging the core topic being discussed, but stories like this are why I'm surprised people like Will Scott haven't gott…

That is a very scary argument. To deny education because it could be used in ways you may not like is a very unfortunate position to take. Education is likely the only way a system like North Korea's will ever fall short of a militarized take over - another horrible fate to wish on those same people. And were it to fall, an education is all that would permit their survival in the world at large. To deny individuals a modern education is a particularly cruel punishment - maybe more so to punish those who would wish to educate.

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#47

Post by xnull2guest »

Alupis wrote: post #39
xnull1guest wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to be in the minority on Hacker News, but as someone in the professional computer security field I know that any company or state/department/organization can be hacked by a motivated attacker. In the case of SONY, the attackers were able to enter the network through spearphishing emails - something that essentially no investment in security is going to prevent. The malware similarly could not have been detecte…

> the attackers were able to enter the network through spearphishing emails - something that essentially no investment in security is going to prevent I'd challenge that assertion. Employee's are often the first line of defense for any company, be it seeing something suspicious or knowing when to alert the right people. Investing in phising attack training can be very worth-while. Or at least adopt a strict company p…

I have never seen corporate policy with regard to attachments and link following effectively thwart a spearphishing campaign and have been privy to studies done at large corporations before and after phishing-awareness training. The short of these studies is that after approximately a week employees mostly reverted to regular habits and that during the week of high alert many employees fell to the internal audit anyway.

Then again, this is only from two studies done at one large corporation.

I looked around but could not find any studies or data about the long term effectiveness of phishing awareness campaigns (only PR junk), nor could I find evidence that SONY did not engage employees with these sorts of policies and training. Do you know of any such studies?

Do you believe that #GOP would not have gotten in if there were more strict policies and more frequent training?

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#48

Post by xnull2guest »

Alupis wrote: post #35
xnull1guest wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to be in the minority on Hacker News, but as someone in the professional computer security field I know that any company or state/department/organization can be hacked by a motivated attacker. In the case of SONY, the attackers were able to enter the network through spearphishing emails - something that essentially no investment in security is going to prevent. The malware similarly could not have been detecte…

> but as someone in the professional computer security field I know that any company or state/department/organization can be hacked by a motivated attacker. You seem to give Sony too much credit, and also forget that they had a file server with open internal access which had a directory called "Passwords" which contained a plain text file with all the credentials to their internal servers. That's something I'd expect…

> You seem to give Sony too much credit, and also forget that they had a file server with open internal access which had a directory called "Passwords" which contained a plain text file with all the credentials to their internal servers.

FWIW this is my experience with multi-billion dollar companies with thousands of employees and full time professional IT staff.

Perhaps we can get other security professionals to chime in.

Once you get a foothold in a corporate environment, it is the unfortunate truth (I'm sure others will back me up here) that it is very easy to move around without 'island hopping with exploits'. For the most part, pivoting by passing-the-hash will work for 99% of networks.

It is also my understanding that the malware that was purchased for this compromise had the capability to persist across the network, to exfiltrate data, and to sabotage computers.

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#49

Post by a1a »

chroma wrote: post #27

> Mr. Jang said that as time went on, the North began diverting high school students with the best math skills into a handful of top universities, including a military school specializing in computer-based warfare called Mirim University, which he attended as a young army officer. I realize I'm not engaging the core topic being discussed, but stories like this are why I'm surprised people like Will Scott haven't gott…

I disagree. I believe education is an excellent way to free the north korean people from the brainwashing machine that is the DPRK.

More DPRK people with the hacker mindset (e.g. not just accepting answers but asking questions, a hunger for knowledge, etc) would in the long term be a really great thing for everyone but the leaders of DPRK.

Re: N.S.A. Tapped into North Korean Networks Before Sony Attack, Officials Say

#50

Post by danboarder »

chroma wrote: post #27

> Mr. Jang said that as time went on, the North began diverting high school students with the best math skills into a handful of top universities, including a military school specializing in computer-based warfare called Mirim University, which he attended as a young army officer. I realize I'm not engaging the core topic being discussed, but stories like this are why I'm surprised people like Will Scott haven't gott…

Learning and knowledge are _good_things_, for people anywhere, including NK. If enough people are educated, it is feasable to expect they would push for regime change and more freedoms for themselves. I expect this will eventually happen in China as well where the cat is out of the bag and more and more people have an expectation of individual liberty, leading them to desire political freedom as well.
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