The trail which lead investigators of the cyber-attacks on Sony Pictures began back in 2010 when the National Security Agency “drilled into the Chinese networks” connecting North Korea to the rest of the world, sifted through connections in Malaysia favored by North Korean hackers, and penetrated directly into North Korea’s network where they placed malware malware capable of tracking the internal workings of many of the computers and networks used by the North Korean hackers, NY Times reported.
South Korea’s military recently indicated that there are roughly 6,000 hackers in the North who are mostly commanded by the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the North’s primary intelligence service, and the country’s secretive hacking unit, Bureau 121.
The New York Times report cited a recently disclosed NSA document, former United States and foreign officials, as well as computer experts who had been briefed on the operation. Officials indicated that the classified security agency program had expanded into an ambitious effort, which was to place malware which would allow them to monitor the North’s computers and networks. The success of the program resulted in the creation of an “early warning radar” system which was created with the aid of South Korea and other American allies, according to the officials and experts who spoke to the NY Times on the condition of anonymity regarding the classified NSA operation.
The NY Times report called President Obama’s decision to accuse the North of the destructive cyber-attack against Japan’s Sony Corporation “highly unusual” because the U.S. had never explicitly charged another government with launching a cyber-attack on a American targets.
We previously reported here on Immortal News that North Korea has been steadfast in their denial of any involvement in the Sony attack and the rogue nation had told the United States to provide evidence in the Sony hack.
What do you think of the NSA’s preemptive hacking of foreign adversaries?
