North Korea and the Sony Hack: Everything You Need to Know

Introduction 

The current society has seen an increase in cyber-related crimes particularly following the emergence of technological innovations. Many international organizations including Sony Pictures have been worried due to the increasing difficulties in managing confidential business data. Cyber-related crimes usually aim at increasing organizations’ vulnerability by illegally accessing and distributing important group information (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Thus, companies must provide more than assurance through their security systems in consistency with the level of technological development. The primary reasons for hacking include financial benefits and political defamation. However, for the case of North Korea and Sony Pictures, the move was mainly to pass a point regarding the airing of the scandalous “ The Interview ”-a production which rolled out a plan for killing N. Korea’s President Kim. 

Diagnosis 

The current political animosity between the United States and North Korea drove cybercriminals to use these hack as revenge mechanisms as presented by the attack on Sony Pictures. In the case of Sony Pictures’ hack by North Korea- an offensive that was blamed on the release of infamous The Interview - among the stolen private information included personal employee information (including social security numbers, email addresses, and salaries), embarrassing private emails between Hollywood stars and the company’s executives, and unreleased movies (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . While the Corporation and the country at large could have considered internal computer infrastructure interference, various indicators pointed towards an external influence. Thorough investigations by American investigators associated the North Korean government with the incidence considering that computer servers from Thailand, Italy, Bolivia, and the USA were used in the cyber invasion against Sony. 

Prognosis 

The main reason behind North Korea’s invasion of Sony Pictures can be traced back to the Company's release of the infamous assassination plan against North Korea’s President Jong Kim. The announcement of The Interview by the Corporation was soon followed by the presentation of an encrypted message that threatened every company that aired the interview, in addition to other online data and private emails (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Shortly after deleting The Interview , American intelligence confirmed North Korea’s involvement in the cyber intrusion, which involved beaming red skeletons on Sony’s computer screen, scrubbed hard drives, and stolen confidential information. Some theories put forward to explain the hack presented an existence of financial seeking hackers who could be either Sony’s workers or North Korea allied hackers (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . 

Additionally, the FBI discovered that a previous IP address belonging to North Korea was used during the process, therefore qualifying the country as the main culprit. Also, the malware used to conduct the attack encompassed several codes which were connected to the development of North Korea. The software employed in formatting the Sony’s computers had once been used in North Korea for theft and intrusion especially against financial institutions, thus confirming suspicions concerning North Korea’s involvement (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . 

Interestingly, the formatting software was first developed in the Korean language. Most importantly, the hackers interfered with the film’s release, ensuring that it never started. This fundamental aspect of the raid made it easier to predict the likely perpetrator. 

Prescription 

Before the intrusion, Sony Pictures was considered an international producer of technology products such as feature films. The hack, however, left the company struggling to save its revenues, consumers’ trusts, and reputation. From an ethical perspective, the attack concerned the company and the world, in general, considering the emotional and psychological torture it caused victims such as Barrack Obama and Angelina Jolie among others (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Even though North Korea used the raid as a “moral disengagement mechanism” to cause lesser harm, it significantly ignored the rules of utilitarianism, which call for empathizing with others. Technology companies are advised to base their judgments on past experiences through nurturing online practical wisdom (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Therefore, such organizations must base their network security guidelines on rules that promise happiness to larger groups of people by protecting their personal information. Utilitarianism would offer organizations with the capacity to negotiate the current moral challenges and dangers associated with technology (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Employees and external entities must be accountable for their actions online and acknowledge that the negative or positive use of the internet is due to individual behavior. Thus, people must consider the negative and positive impacts of the computer programs that they write. Also, the use of computers must respect and recognize the feeling s of others. 

Proscription 

While North Korea failed to openly admit its involvement in the Sony hack and insisted that the allegations were directed towards tarnishing the “good” relationships between the two countries, all evidence pointed to N. Korea. However, to prevent a recurrence of the same, both countries must work towards developing healthy relationships by first admitting their roles in the offensive and bringing the culprits to justice. Also, the film-production organization realized several laxities which compromised its security systems including laying off two cybersecurity experts several weeks before the hack (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Furthermore, the company poorly handled a previous small-scale hack on one company’s office, hence encouraging the later intrusion on its network security. The company must overly invest in its network infrastructure by employing competent and experienced technology experts who will oversee the development and maintenance of the computer infrastructures (Chung, Lim & Kwon, 2016) . Also, the Sony must use advanced network protection software that is capable of blocking sophisticated malware such as that used by the N. Korean hackers. 

Conclusion 

The raid on Sony taught the company several crucial lessons on network security management. First, the company learned the importance of adequately investing in network infrastructure protection without waiting for disaster to strike first. The company has already spent millions of dollars trying to reinforce and salvage its operations and reputation. 

Reference 

Chung, M. K., Lim, J. I., & Kwon, H. Y. (2016). A Study on North Korea's Cyber Attacks and Countermeasures.    Journal of the Korea society of IT services ,    15 (1), 67-79.