What does everybody make of this whole Sony Hack/"The Interview" thing?

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It gives me the chills to think a rogue state can hack into this country's power grid and bring the whole country to a standstill. This is just the first shot in a whole new type of warfare.
 
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Dan...the look on your cat's face is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time! She deserves some Fancy Feast and an extra helping of catnip
 
It gives me the chills to think a rogue state can hack into this country's power grid and bring the whole country to a standstill. This is just the first shot in a whole new type of warfare.

Yes.
 
99.99% sure it is NOT a publicity stunt.

If it was a publicity stunt, it would be amazing if Sony execs were in the loop, particularly the ones whose embarrassing e-mails have been posted.

It would be surprising of the head of the movie studio, Amy Pascal, doesn't lose her job. Not necessarily due to this situation itself, but from being so unprofessional in the way she conducts business, as revealed in many of those released emails. Though from what I've read, she has been in tight spots before, for which underlings paid the price instead of her.

The other thing is, that if this turned out to be a publicity stunt, there must be some laws that would have been broken by some Sony execs to have OK'ed it. And if so, they ought to be prosecuted to the fullest extent and go to jail. Terrorist threats have been made for which they would be responsible, so that alone would get them SERIOUS jail time!

But again I do not think this is a publicity stunt.

The hackers might not all be North Korean. But that does not mean North Korea didn't hire "cyber hit men".

- George Gassaway
 
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It would be surprising of the head of the movie studio, Amy Pascal, doesn't lose her job. Not necessarily due to this situation itself, but from being so unprofessional in the way she conducts business, as revealed in many of those released emails. Though from what I've read, she has been in tight spots before, for which underlings paid the price instead of her.

- George Gassaway

I suspect Sony's top brass don't care about Pascal's general conduct...I don't think anyone in Hollywood is surprised by backstabbing and general rudeness. In an industry full of creative talent, you get a lot of hot-headed prima donnas.

No, I think they will be much more concerned about this vulnerability that they never imagined they had...Why was data/network security so lax (carelessness), why don't executives know better than to snipe at people in emails which must be retained and produced as evidence if there are lawsuits (poor judgment), and whose idea was it to provoke a sitting ruler of a sovereign country by producing what could be construed as a wartime propaganda film (sheer arrogance)?

Seriously...who doesn't know of the flaky behavior and general paranoia of North Korea's leadership? These are people who could launch an artillery barrage, a submarine attack, an assassination attempt, etc. at any time. I'll bet a lot of Sony executives are feeling seriously worried right now, for both their business and their personal safety...and for what? I'm sure the movie will be available someday. I don't think I'll bother to see it...not because I want to see the NKs win (I don't, that's bad for everyone), but because I don't want to reward stupidity. Better that Sony suck up the loss and learn some important lessons.
 
To put a final nail into the coffin of publicity stunt...

News reports have been bringing to light past Cyber attacks that seemed to have made by North Korea. Such as on South Korean banks and even their nuclear plants.

Associated Press' Big Story:
"A look at North Korea's cyberwar capabilities"

https://bigstory.ap.org/article/293...0fec1/look-north-koreas-cyberwar-capabilities

And from Reuters:

"For North Korea's cyber army, long-term target may be telecoms, utility grids""

https://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/19/us-sony-cybersecurity-northkorea-idUSKBN0JX0JW20141219

As to whether the movie was a good idea, does not matter. That is blaming the victim. As has been said, this sort of thing may have a chilling effect on documentaries about North Korea, and even anyone who says ANYTHING bad about North Korea. Well, correction, anyone who might have said bad things about North Korea, but will not say the things in the future that they would have before, out of fear.

So, blaming the script of the movie and/or attacking the actors, is just, well, ridiculous. This situation is more serious than that.

What if instead, this was a serious Tom Hanks movie about repression in North Korea? The same principles would still apply. North Korea would be upset about THAT, and have the same reasons to undermine it and attack those responsible for it, as they have done about this movie. Would you blame Hanks and the studio for it, or the actual bad guys?

- George Gassaway
 
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It gives me the chills to think a rogue state can hack into this country's power grid and bring the whole country to a standstill. This is just the first shot in a whole new type of warfare.

That might be minor in comparison. The North Koreans have nukes. Put one into a low orbit over CONUS and bang. EMP does a number on us, and maybe we are back to horse and carriage.



Mark Koelsch
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Seems to me the Target and Home Depot hacking crimes were kind of blown off..didnt they affect millions and millions of Americans? Any comment at the time was its unfortunate that those companys didnt have better security.

Its really steams me to have the president comment that the airing of Sony executives dirty laundry is a matter of national security..is just Obaminable. Sony is a multiNational .. assume they bank all their profits overseas as well ?

As for as Sony execs go..they have mishandled this and the wrong decision was made ..this isnt terrorism its Extortion. Amy may have weathered the storm at her shores in the past but shareholders care about the bottom line and eating this entire movie (and advertising expense) only with the theatrical release ..but all the subsequent revenue streams and sequels WORLDWIDE will not sit well. They should use this as an opprotunity to roll all the executives who decided to expense $100M to the extornists in lieu of them making public something more unflattering concerning the corporation.

Heck I am still seeing the commercials for the Interview while watching some shows that were dvr'd.

Kenny
 
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Keep in mind, the theaters made the decision not to show it... at least not on the original premiere date. Without the theaters agreeing to show it, based on liability concerns, there wasn't much choice for Sony.

I was listening to an interview with the Sony CEO yesterday, and he was pretty adamant that they want to release the movie, once they have partners lined up to do so.

All of this will blow over, and the movie will be out there soon enough.
 
I'd say the private sector is way ahead of the government when it comes to cyber security and protection of financial interests.... Wasn't it the card processing company that was attacked from the whole Home Depot and Target incident and not target/Home Depot?
 
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As to whether the movie was a good idea, does not matter. That is blaming the victim. As has been said, this sort of thing may have a chilling effect on documentaries about North Korea, and even anyone who says ANYTHING bad about North Korea. Well, correction, anyone who might have said bad things about North Korea, but will not say the things in the future that they would have before, out of fear.

So, blaming the script of the movie and/or attacking the actors, is just, well, ridiculous. This situation is more serious than that.

What if instead, this was a serious Tom Hanks movie about repression in North Korea? The same principles would still apply. North Korea would be upset about THAT, and have the same reasons to undermine it and attack those responsible for it, as they have done about this movie. Would you blame Hanks and the studio for it, or the actual bad guys?

- George Gassaway

You have a good point about NK being a credible threat, and I don't want to diminish that. But this was not just a controversial movie about North Korea.

Think, for a moment, like a paranoid person who has no concept of indiviual free speech. This depicted an assassination plot and the overthrow of the NK government...arguably a hostile act against a sovereign country by trying to instigate a coup. You say "don't blame the victim"...I say nobody gave Sony the right to declare war on our behalf, whether they meant to or not.

Having said that, this could be a blessing in disguise...Kim Jong Un's quick temper caused him to reveal this capability, giving us a chance to evaluate the threat before he does a lot more harm. I would think that's a huge strategic error on his part.
On the other hand, I think the real beneficiaries here are Russia and China, patiently watching to see what we do next.
 
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Keep in mind, the theaters made the decision not to show it... at least not on the original premiere date. Without the theaters agreeing to show it, based on liability concerns, there wasn't much choice for Sony.

I was listening to an interview with the Sony CEO yesterday, and he was pretty adamant that they want to release the movie, once they have partners lined up to do so.

That strikes me as silly. Just because many of the larger theater chains were not going to show it does not mean they could not release it. I can upload a file to a server, whether or not anyone chooses to download it is a completely different question. Sony certainly could make it available to any theater that wanted it - they could 'release' it.
 
Why do we all assume they are terrorists? Perhaps they are good samaritans trying to save civilization from another James Franco laden turd.

Well, probably not, but it is insane how much public mindshare this otherwise completely non noteworthy movie now has. Acquaintances familiar with it said that it sucks in everywhere way. I mean, what is Seth Rogan without fart jokes? Not much left.
 
Keep in mind, the theaters made the decision not to show it... at least not on the original premiere date. Without the theaters agreeing to show it, based on liability concerns, there wasn't much choice for Sony.

I was listening to an interview with the Sony CEO yesterday, and he was pretty adamant that they want to release the movie, once they have partners lined up to do so.

All of this will blow over, and the movie will be out there soon enough.

That strikes me as silly. Just because many of the larger theater chains were not going to show it does not mean they could not release it. I can upload a file to a server, whether or not anyone chooses to download it is a completely different question. Sony certainly could make it available to any theater that wanted it - they could 'release' it.

There has been some misunderstanding in the press about what "not releasing it" means.

At this point the Sony party line is: "They are not releasing it in theaters on the original Dec 25 date." At times they have said "we're canceling the release" which is purposefully ambiguous.

Yesterday on an NPR interview with the Sony CEO, he made it clear that while it is possible that they could go straight to DVD/BluRay, or streaming, or some other channel, they don't have partners lined up to do this (yet, because it would have been six months or so after theatrical release until release to DVD/Cable etc.), and they still hope to get the movie into the theaters "sometime."

Keep in mind, they've sunk many millions (I've heard ~$50M) into the movie... they have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the value they get out of it. Theaters are the sweetest plum in movie distribution, and they won't rule that out until there's no other choice. Releasing to disc or streaming would kill any chance of reaping profit from a theatrical release down the road. Right now everybody is in a reactionary, liability-driven conservative mode about the NK threat. Gradually, that will expire and I'm sure we can see this stinker in the theaters.

Marc
 
Its really steams me to have the president comment that the airing of Sony executives dirty laundry is a matter of national security..is just Obaminable.

Well, EVERYBODY ELSE was able to keep this this within the forum rules , then you had to ruin it.

- George Gassaway


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Last edited by troj; 1st November 2013 at 09:39 AM.
 
Still think it's a publicity stunt.
If it is REAL,We should take appropriate action.
IIRC, we sent radar jamming airplanes into Iraq. When the pilots fired them up the ENTIRE electrical grid shut down.
We could just bomb them into the Stone Age, but we'd move them ahead a few hundred years

Paul Harvey once reported that a pair of EA-6 Prowlers have the jamming capability of shutting down that country.

A couple EA-18 Growlers could do the job now.
 
Hard to determine who actually put an end to the movie. Sony blames the theaters and the theaters blame Sony. Both have some cowardice in them. Release the movie.
 
Have you seen a Seth Rogen movie???

+1. This debate would be a lot less painful if we were talking about a better movie. I doubt we could convince the North Koreans that their best revenge would be to let this turkey flop on its own.
 
SNL had a great opening tonight. A boring singer starting off with a boring Christmas special, when the show's signal was taken over by Doctor Evil (Mike Meyers), from the Austin Powers movies. He was furious that North Korea and Sony had both given evil organizations a bad name....

- George Gassaway
 
The ads seem to make it out to be a comedy? That was my take before any controversy. If it IS a comedy, shows how out of touch North Korea really is ... and our press.
 
It gives me the chills to think a rogue state can hack into this country's power grid and bring the whole country to a standstill. This is just the first shot in a whole new type of warfare.

Especially after working on infrastructure for a major financial institution, I have zero sympathy for any critical data or system being connected to the internet when it does not have to be. Seriously, have any of these buffoons ever heard of an air gap? No WOW addicted pimply faced teen is hacking through one of those. Yet all because some bozos in middle management want to access their email through home Comcast connections, our whole power grid is attached and susceptible. Obviously in cases like Home Depot and Target the purpose was to do business with customers online, but there is no justifiable reason for a power control system or private unreleased media to be connected to the same network as my little brother playing Call Of Duty.
 
The ads seem to make it out to be a comedy? That was my take before any controversy. If it IS a comedy, shows how out of touch North Korea really is ... and our press.

It is a comedy.

I had thought maybe the N Koreans (Kim Jung-Un) just had assumed the worst about the plot. I've seen some preview clips where Kim Jung and James Franco's character (the guy who does interviews) were acting like REAL pals. But recently I read that the end of the movie does end up with Kim Jung-Un , well, what the movie's basic plot implies.

But again that's not to blame the victim. It does not matter what the movie is about, who stars in it, who made it or anything else. It's a country using cyber-terrorism.

At least in this case it is screwing with a movie studio, and not with infrastructure, or bank accounts, or other more serious things that can affect the day to day lives of millions of people in one way or another. But it does serve as a wake-up call for an issue most of us knew was a problem, but had not hit the news big-time until now. N.K. has been doing this, China has been doing this, Iran has been doing this, and so on. Although up to now it's usually been done covertly, the publicly announced threats and/or demands as in this case have been very rare. But also, the U.S. has been doing covert cyber attacks on some countries, it's not a one-way street. That's not to justify what other countries have done but it's not to be blindly ignorant about the issue either.

- George Gassaway
 
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I think the problem for Sony was that all the major theater networks refused to show it for fear of some kind of reprisal, and that meant Sony had no way to distribute the film according to the contracts in place. You can't force a theater to show the movie. And the theaters didn't want to take the chance that the public would refuse to go to a multiplex theater to see ANY movie if they were showing the Interview in another screening room. Public concern about the threat had potential to affect the success of other movies, theaters in general, and the shopping malls where theaters were located.

When Sony says the movie has been "canceled" I'm pretty sure that doesn't mean it will never be shown. it means for now all the distribution that had been planned is on hold, and the huge promotional effort that goes with the release is also on hold. But there is a lot of money already invested in the project, and I'm sure everyone want to get paid and probably make some money on the controversy too. So I'm sure they are working on new contracts to get it seen somehow.

Too bad it's probably not a great movie. I actually like Rogan and Franco, but this doesn't look like such a good movie. It's too bad that freedom of expression battles always have to be fought over crappy content! Speaking of which, that pillar of the defense of free speech rights (I'm not kidding here), Larry Flint, is already planning to made a porn spoof of the Interview, so that should be some quality entertainment, and you can bet Larry is not intimidated by any Commie Tyrant. I wonder how Kim will like his portrayal in the porn flick.

Nothing justifies the hack and the threat, but I wonder how the US would react to a film about the assassination of a real-life sitting president, or any real-world figure. It crosses some kind of line, I think. We wouldn't retaliate in the same way, but I think we might be pissed. The fact is, the Kim's have always run their country like an organized crime family. I wonder if anyone involved in the movie ever thought to consider that Kim is not some abstract caricature made up for our amusement. He's a real-world powerful crime figure and tyrannical head of state who has ordered people killed in horrible barbaric ways, so maybe a project ridiculing him to millions of movie viewers and portraying his assassination is something to think twice about. I stand on the side of free speech, but you have to question the wisdom of some kinds of speech.
 
Especially after working on infrastructure for a major financial institution, I have zero sympathy for any critical data or system being connected to the internet when it does not have to be. Seriously, have any of these buffoons ever heard of an air gap? No WOW addicted pimply faced teen is hacking through one of those. Yet all because some bozos in middle management want to access their email through home Comcast connections, our whole power grid is attached and susceptible. Obviously in cases like Home Depot and Target the purpose was to do business with customers online, but there is no justifiable reason for a power control system or private unreleased media to be connected to the same network as my little brother playing Call Of Duty.

Yep, the internet is one big "party line." No reason the Military, power grids, etc. can't have a "private line." We have the technology to switch between the two.
 
Nothing justifies the hack and the threat, but I wonder how the US would react to a film about the assassination of a real-life sitting president, or any real-world figure.

There was a British film in 2006 depicting the fictional assassination of George W. Bush. There was uproar, hand wringing and now many don't even remember it.
 
Or, maybe it was something like this.

[video=youtube;xitCdlo9IlQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xitCdlo9IlQ[/video]
 
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