Freedomshift

Bloggers, conspiracy theorists and people who challenge establishment narratives on the Internet were all likened to ISIS terrorists during a chilling Congressional hearing which took place yesterday.

If the FBI’s revelations on Wednesday about the sloppiness of North Korea’s hackers was meant to silence critics who doubt the government’s attribution for what happened to Sony, it failed. Despite assertions from FBI Director James Comey that he has very high confidence in the attribution to North Korea and a statement by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that North Korean General Kim Youn Choi was directly responsible for ordering the attack , security experts still doubt the veracity of the claims based on the evidence provided so far. Read more: here

FBI agents investigating the Sony Pictures hack were briefed Monday by a security firm that says its research points to laid-off Sony staff, not North Korea, as the perpetrator — another example of the continuing whodunit blame game around the devastating attack. Even the unprecedented decision to release details of an ongoing FBI investigation and President Barack Obama publicly blaming the hermit authoritarian regime hasn’t quieted a chorus of well-qualified skeptics who say the evidence just doesn’t add up. Researchers from the cyber intelligence company Norse have said their own investigation into the data on the Sony attack doesn’t point to North Korea at all and instead indicates some combination of a disgruntled employee and hackers for piracy groups is at fault. Read more: here

Having confirmed unequivocally, in a statement by the FBI and reiterated by President Obama, that "the North Korean government is responsible" for hacking Sony, it appears the YouTube-less 'evidence' the FBI provided is being questioned by the hacking-collective 'Anonymous' and former Lulzsec hacker Sabu. As The Daily Beast reports , the hackers blasted, the North Koreans "don’t have the technical capabilities," and added "we all know the hacks didn't come from North Korea, and "all of the evidence FBI cites would be trivial things to do if a hacker was trying to misdirect attention to DPRK." Meanwhile, on Saturday afternoon, Guardians of Peace, the hacking group that’s so far claimed responsibility for wreaking havoc on Sony, posted a message online mocking the FBI’s investigation - a series of gyrating animated bodies shrieking, "You are an idiot!" Read more: here

North Korea is  continuing to deny any involvement with the devastating cyber attack on Sony Pictures. But the entire affair just got even stranger: foreign ministry officials have announced through the government's state-run news agency that "we propose a joint investigation with [the US] into this incident." The government then warned that there will be "grave consequences" if the US continues its "groundless slander" of North Korea and rejects its proposal of a joint investigation. Officials also added, "Without resorting to such tortures as were used by the CIA, we have means to prove that this incident has nothing to do with us." Read more: here

After weeks of rumors and speculation, it looked like the mystery surrounding the hackers who hit and embarassed Sony Pictures in the last few weeks may have finally been solved: North Korea did it, according to anonymous U.S. officials quoted in various news reports on Wednesday. "We have found linkage to the North Korean government," said one of the anonymous sources. See also: Sony ends 'The Interview' and hands hackers a terrifying new script But despite government officials pointing the finger at North Korea — behind the comfort and safety of anonymous quotes — there is still little evidence linking the Sony hackers to the regime led by Kim Jong-un, and cybersecurity experts are just as unconvinced of this theory as they were more than two weeks ago .  Read more: here

Even after the Federal Bureau of Investigation 's official statement that North Korea was behind the Sony attack, many cybersecurity experts are still skeptical the hermit nation is truly the culprit, citing a lack of new and more convincing evidence. “It’s mostly a repeat of information that has been in the public before,” Rob Graham, chief executive officer of research firm Errata Security, said of the FBI's statement issued Friday. Many prominent names in the field, Graham and others, took to Twitter to express their concern. "I'm completely underwhelmed by the FBI's 'proof' attributing Sony attack to North Korea," Graham tweeted from his @ErrataRob account.  Read more: here

Today Sony canceled the premiere of “The Interview” and its entire Christmas-Day release of the movie because of fears that terrorists might attack theaters showing the film. The actions show just how much power the attackers behind the Sony hack have amassed in a short time. But who exactly are they? 1 The New York Times reported this evening that North Korea is “centrally involved” in the hack, citing unnamed U.S. intelligence officials. It’s unclear from the Times report what “centrally involved” means and whether the intelligence officials are saying the hackers were state-sponsored or actually agents of the state. The Times also notes that “It is not clear how the United States came to its determination that the North Korean regime played a central role in the Sony attacks.” The public evidence pointing at the Hermit Kingdom is flimsy. Other theories of attribution focus on hacktivists—motivated by ideology, politics or something else—or disgruntled insiders who ...