Sony comedy film: The Interview looms cyber war as US-N.Korea tension spikes

The Interview is a 2014 American political comedy film directed by Seth Rogen and Evan 
Goldberg in their second directorial work, following This Is the End. The screenplay by Dan Sterling is from a story by Rogen, Goldberg and Sterling. The film stars Rogen and James Franco as journalists instructed to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (played by Randall Park) after booking an interview with him. It received mixed reviews from critics.

In June 2014, the North Korean government threatened "merciless" action against the United States if the film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, went ahead with the release. Columbia delayed the release from October 10 to December 25, and reportedly edited the film to make it more acceptable to North Korea. In November, the computer systems of parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment were hacked by the "Guardians of Peace", a group the FBI believes has ties to North Korea. After leaking several other then-upcoming Sony films and other sensitive internal information, the group demanded that Sony pull The Interview, which it referred to as "the movie of terrorism". On December 16, 2014, the Guardians of Peace threatened terrorist attacks against cinemas that played The Interview.

On December 17, after a number of major North American cinema chains canceled screenings in the interest of safety, Sony canceled the theatrical release of The Interview, drawing criticism from the media, Hollywood figures and U.S. President Barack Obama. After initially stating that it had no plans to release the film, Sony made The Interview available for online rental on December 24, and in a limited release at selected cinemas on December 25. - Wikipedia



 Cyber war looms as US-NK tension spikes

North Korea's Internet and 3G networks were back to normal by midday Tuesday after hours of a strange shutdown. This blackout led to speculation that North Korea had been under cyber-attack from the US. It remains unknown whether the purported US-North Korea conflict will flare up into full-blown cyber war.

Sony Pictures, which has caught global attention for filming The Interview, a movie featuring the fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was attacked by a group of hackers recently. The FBI asserted that these hackers were sponsored by North Korea, and US President Barack Obama declared the US would make a "proportional response." Thus, there are high suspicions that Washington is behind the attack.

Neither Washington nor Pyongyang has commented officially on the incident. There are more threats to cyber security than ever before, and hacking groups not backed by governments have become mainstream. Countries like the US have established cyber armies, but there has been no declaration of a cyber war so far. Any party suspected of launching cyber invasions using its regular cyber army always denies its involvement.

We hope that Washington and Pyongyang will not engage in war in cyberspace. Once they cross the Rubicon, there is no way back.

The current suspected tit-for-tat situation between North Korea and the US raises the risks of a cyber war. Pyongyang has shown its abomination toward Sony Pictures. However, having denied any connections with the attacks, it hailed these actions as justified.

Washington has revealed its inclination to retaliate against Pyongyang, which is why many assume the Internet blackout in North Korea was its doing. Washington's response could be an overreaction, as it is implying that cyber attacks can be seen as a kind of legitimate state action, which will set a precedent for cyber wars.

Antagonism between North Korea and the US will remain a hot topic for quite a while in the international community. If more cyber attacks are launched in the near future, many people will believe that a cyber war between them has already broken out. It is possible that Washington is trying to teach Pyongyang a lesson and show its strength through cyber attacks. But it must keep in mind that its advanced networks also have loopholes, which might be taken advantage of by a single hacker and a computer.

The US must not set an example by engaging in cyber warfare. It might prevail in the short term, but the already vulnerable Internet order will be mired in countless trouble.

This North Korea-US cyber conflict has also reminded China that it must reinforce its cyber security and act as a constructive role to guard peace across the Internet. As for the speculation that it was China that cut off North Korea's Internet connections, these are spurious and do not merit our attention.- Global Times



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Anonymous hackers has begun the cyber war on Singapore

 

Singapore's internet and phone regulator said it was investigating the hack

Anonymous hackers have declared war on Singapore with a pledge to hit at official infrastructure. This has left Singaporeans with a sense of foreboding about what is to come.

AN aura of uncertainty, even fear, has crept into this intelligent island where the computer widely affects every home, office and school.

Since an anonymous network of hackers threatened war on the government and its infrastructure, many official websites – including the Prime Minister’s Office – became inaccessible for a long period.

Others included the police force and internal security department and ministries like finance, home affairs and national development as well as Parliament and the Cabinet.

Many citizens are not sure whether there had been a cyber-attack or, as officially explained, the outage was due to a planned maintenance that hit “routing and hardware”.

“At no point were these websites the target of cyber-attacks,” insisted the authorities.

But an e-mail purportedly from “The Messiah”, an alleged hacker who is part of an international network, said several members had worked together to put them down.

The declaration of war with a pledge to hit at official infrastructure last Saturday has placed Singapo-reans with a sense of foreboding about what is to come.

Singapore – its economy and education system – has been heavily dependent on the Internet for two decades.

After four days of silence, a defiant Prime Minister vowed to track down the anonymous hackers and bring them to justice.

Lee Hsien Loong told reporters: “Our IT (information technology) network, the Internet, our communications have become an essential part of our business and our lives now.

“...When somebody threatens to do harm to it ... we will spare no effort to try and track down the culprits and if we can find him, we will bring him to justice and he will be dealt with severely.”

The response is not surprising. Few people had really expected the authorities to give in.

A day later, the PM Office website was mockingly hacked by Anony-mous, saying “It’s great to be Singaporean today”.

Singapore may be entering a new era of IT threats where unidentified foreign predators – for good or bad reasons – can wreak chaos to their lives.

“These may be the good guys. What if they were followed by the really bad ones with destructive ideas?” asked a political analyst.

Since the harm of computer warfare is unimaginable, most people tend to oppose its use to achieve social and human rights, the declared aim of the anonymous group.

Even within the Internet community, which is traditionally anti-government, the reaction has been mixed.

“I love these guys for fighting on our behalf but am afraid they may actually inflict harm on Singapore,” a netizen said. “We will have to fight the government our way, through elections.”

Therein lies the government’s dilemma. It is facing a dangerous new threat with some younger Singaporeans less than supportive of it.

The anonymous group is not without problems, too. It can only win if it gets the Singapore public on its side.

This is unlikely to happen if its hacking activities are stepped up to a level where people’s welfare is harmed.

This could swing Singaporeans behind the government and turn against them – which is not what they want.

Observers notice that of all the closures, the Central Provident Fund website was unaffected.

The trouble began last Saturday when an anonymous hacker wearing a Guy Fawkes mask demanded the Singapore government, over YouTube, to withdraw its recent laws to licence online news.

Economists fear that a prolonged digital war may undermine business confidence and affect the economy, particularly e-commerce here and in the region.

Singaporeans are by nature not aggressive. Some see it as Hobson’s choice, between supporting the anonymous group’s “noble objective” and their own jobs and careers.

The public stayed largely away from the hackers’ call for a general protest on Nov 5. So did most bloggers, although some Facebook users had blacked out their profile pictures as a sign of support.

Since many Singaporeans are not tech-savvy, they tend to worry about the worst of a cyber-war – chaotic roads and airports, missing bank accounts, etc.

The government, however, has insisted the websites were closed for a pre-planned maintenance which was aggravated by “routing and hardware glitches”.

The episode showed the government was apparently unprepared to meet a major hacking threat.

It signifies that defence of Singapore now goes beyond the need for national service and a people’s army, missiles and jet-fighters.

Recently, the government announced a new S$130mil (RM332mil) budget to be spent in the next five years for research in countering cyber-warfare.

The hacking began last December, when the websites of the government People’s Association and 16 related bodies were hacked and closed.

A number of assaults followed, including the town council of PM Lee’s constituency.

The hackers putting pressure on the People’s Action Party (PAP) government will likely see some long-term impact.

The ever presence of a global group of high-powered hackers, and their threat, will likely make the policy-makers a lot more cautious in the future.

 By Seah Chiang Nee
> The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.