North’Korea behind Sony hacking -FBI

North Korea was responsible for a “destructive” cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has said, warning it will hunt down the perpetrators and make them pay.

“Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behaviour,” the FBI said in a statement on Friday, adding it would “identify, pursue, and impose costs and consequences on individuals, groups, or nation states who use cyber means to threaten the United States or US interests.”

The FBI’s case cited, among other factors, technical similarities between the Sony break-in and past “malicious cyber activity” linked directly to North Korea.

The FBI based its conclusion on the following points:

Malware used in the attack linked to previous cyber attacks that originated in North Korea.
The FBI also observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other past malicious cyber activity.
Separately, the tools used in the latest attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets
Obama administration officials had previously declined to openly blame North Korea but said they were weighing various options for a response. The statement on Friday did not reveal what options were being considered.

President Barack Obama is expected to face questions about the Sony hack at a year-end news conference with reporters later on Friday.

The break-in escalated to terrorist threats that promoted Sony to cancel the Christmas release of the movie “The Interview”. The comedy is about a plot to assassinate North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un.