NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

A program implemented by the National Security Agency to help the U.S. and its allies track the computers and networks used by North Korean hackers was critical in gathering information that led Washington to conclude Pyongyang was behind last year’s cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that the NSA began placing malware in North Korean systems in 2010. Originally, the purpose of the surveillance was to gain insight into North Korea’s nuclear program, but the focus shifted after a large cyberattack on South Korean banks and media companies in 2013. 

In the case of the Sony Pictures hack, which knocked nearly the entire company’s system offline, investigators believe that the North had stolen the “credentials” of a Sony systems administrator, which enabled them to spend two months familiarizing themselves with Sony’s network and plotting how to destroy files, computers, and systems. The attacks themselves, which Sony first reported to the FBI Nov. 24, are widely considered to be in retaliation for the release of “The Interview,” a comedy that features an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Sony hack.

Skeptics have cast doubt on the official story that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, with many suggesting a disgruntled current or former Sony employee was responsible. Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said U.S. investigators were able to trace emails and Internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the attack, and link them to North Korea.

Comey said most of the time, the group sent emails threatening Sony employees and made various other statements online using proxy servers to disguise where the messages were coming from. But on occasion, he said, they connected “directly,” enabling investigators to “see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans.”

A senior military official told The Times that the evidence against North Korea that was presented to President Barack Obama was so compelling that he “had no doubt” the Communist regime was responsible. The White House has imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyberattack. 

The Times report quotes a North Korean defector as saying that country’s military first displayed interest in hacking in 1994, when it sent 15 people to a Chinese military academy to learn the practice. Two years later, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang’s primary intelligence service, created Bureau 121, a hacking unit that has a substantial representation in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. 

South Korea’s military claims that the North has a staff of 6,000 hackers dedicated to disrupting the South’s military and government. That estimate is more than double an earlier projection made by that country’s Defense Ministry. 

Click for more from The New York Times.

View the original article here

NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

Court to decide if ... MAN BREAKS COP"S FINGER AT AIRPORT

There was high drama at the Norman Manley International Airport recently, after a man allegedly broke a policeman’s finger because he did not want him to search his luggage.

Twenty-one-year-old Joel Bailey, of a Greater Portmore, St Catherine, address, was charged with assaulting the police, assault occasioning grievous bodily harm, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct, along with abusive and calumnious language when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

It is alleged that on September 9, about 1:45 p.m., Bailey arrived at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, to board a COPA airline flight to Panama.

security checks

While the police were making their security checks, the accused was stopped, interviewed and a search was requested for his luggage.

According to reports, Bailey refused to observe the procedure and allegedly uttered, “yow mi nuh like police enuh. Unuh a …, unuh a sodomite, unuh think unuh can do me nuttin!”

He was then told by the lawman to desist the abusive language, however, he allegedly continued to be verbally abusive to the officer.

The officer then warned him about his behaviour, to which he reportedly approached the officer and at arms length, proceeded to point his finger in the officer’s face and allegedly said, “police bwoy, mi wi tump yuh inna yuh face.”

arresting him

Afterwards, the officer informed Bailey that he would be arresting him for the offences committed and attempted to arrest him, to which the accused allegedly used his right hand to hit the lawman on his ring finger, breaking it.

After injuring the policeman, Bailey reportedly began to behave in a boisterous and disorderly manner, and a crowd gathered shortly after.

Bailey was subsequently restrained and arrested with the assistance of other police officers and members of COPA Airlines and taken into custody.

Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey ordered Bailey to surrender his travel documents, a stop order was also made. He is to return to court on October 2.

View the original article here

Court to decide if ... MAN BREAKS COP"S FINGER AT AIRPORT

ROBBER TRIES TO BITE OFF WOMAN"S FINGER - Wanted to steal wedding band

Andr? Williams, STAR Writer

The search is on for a would-be-robber who chewed on the finger of an elderly woman in an attempt to get her wedding band, while she jogged in her upscale St Andrew community late last week.

Information reaching THE STAR is that the woman was out doing her daily rounds of morning exercise when she was attacked by a man who held on to her hands and bit her ring finger without success.

The STAR gathered that the incident took place in view of another resident who was going about his own business.

He told THE STAR, “Mi a walk bout minutes after 7 in a di morning and mi see a strange man. Mi never pay him nuh mind really until mi walk past him … after the lady past me with her walking stick, heading in the opposite direction. She stop and then mi hear she start scream when the man a walk go over to her.. Next ting, mi see him grab her finger and a bite it and she a scream … then mi jus see a car come out of nowhere and turn, then him run go meet the car.”

The man continued, “Mi couldn’t believe a so di man bite bite up the woman finger and still nuh get di ring … right now mi a wonder if is a mad man or coke head …”

Our news team understands that after the ordeal the woman went home and told her husband, who is believed to be a retired policeman, what happened.

THE STAR understands that the couple traversed the route in search of the would-be-robber, asking neighbours if they saw or heard anything, before filing a report with the area police.

The St Andrew North police confirmed reports of the incident and told our news team that nobody had been apprehended in relation to that incident.

THE STAR was also informed that the police have stepped up patrol in the area where the incident occurred.

Some residents also told THE STAR that the area is often used by unscrupulous persons to carry out illegal deeds.

Over the past few months there have been several reports of robbery and at least one confirmed case of rape in the vicinity of where this latest incident took place.

View the original article here

ROBBER TRIES TO BITE OFF WOMAN"S FINGER - Wanted to steal wedding band