December 2014

White House Calls Sony Cyber Attack "Serious National Security Matter"

The White House considers the devastating cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment “a serious national security matter,” and is weighing how to respond. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the federal government is devoting significant resources to determining who is responsible for the assault. Administration officials are taking the attack seriously, in part, because the hackers didn’t just steal and leak information, they also destroyed information on Sony’s network in an effort to disrupt the company’s operations. “The activity we’ve seen here is destructive with malicious intent. It’s being investigated as such by the FBI and Department of Justice,” Earnest said. President Barack Obama is monitoring the situation closely, said Earnest, adding that there have been a number of daily meetings about the breach at the White House

Politicians respond to Sony hack, call for cybersecurity bill

In response to the Sony hack, Rep Peter King (R-NY) called for legislators to pass the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, which reimburses insurers for terrorism-related losses. The policy was adopted after September 11th, but an extension failed to pass the Senate, meaning it will expire at the end of 2014. Rep King called an expiration "criminal negligence."

Sen John McCain (R-AZ) also said that the choice set a "troubling precedent" in cyberwarfare.

Sen Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), said that "this is only the latest example of the need for serious legislation to improve the sharing of information between the private sector and the government to help companies strengthen cybersecurity. We must pass an information sharing bill as quickly as possible in 2015."

The hackers are winning the media war

[Commentary] The success the Sony hackers have seen to date will likely spur others who think they're Snowden-like vigilantes to steal other information that falls along equally tricky ethical lines. Sony is likely just the first battle of a long, long war. And if driving conversation is where the power lies, one thing is clear: Right now, the hackers are winning.

The Lesson of the Sony Hack: We Should All Jump to the 'Erasable Internet'

[Commentary] Nothing you say in any form mediated through digital technology -- absolutely nothing at all -- is guaranteed to stay private. The Sony disclosures make the case for creating what I’ve called “the erasable Internet.” The Snapchat Internet is now being built. A range of start-ups across the world, including Snapchat itself, are working to create communications systems that are not based on saving as a default. Someday, perhaps someday soon, it may be possible to quickly and easily send messages that you can be fairly confident are secure. There are two ways to respond to the Sony hack: First, assume everything is public. Go about your business as if all you do on a computer is vulnerable to intrusion and exposure. Second, agitate for a world in which saving is not the default.

The Sony Hackers Are Terrorists

[Commentary] I don’t know what else to call them besides terrorists. The Guardians of Peace didn’t just steal 100 TB (an ungodly amount) of sensitive data, they also used “wiper malware” to more or less destroy Sony’s internal systems, leaving its entire infrastructure crippled. But by so effectively creating a climate of fear and making threats of actual violence, the Guardians of Peace have raised the specter of genuine cyberterroristic acts to come. So as the media fiddles while Sony burns, wallowing in the stolen emails and pointing fingers, there’s much we all need to learn about our own security vulnerabilities and longstanding inadequacies. We need to do it now.

North Korea’s intimidation of Hollywood cannot go unanswered

[Commentary] Both the cyberattack on Sony and the coercion are unacceptable and cannot go unanswered. Congress has tried but failed to approve legislation that would have allowed the federal government to work more closely with the private sector to protect corporate networks. We hope the 114th Congress will act soon. The nation would not tolerate a ballistic missile landing in a movie lot; how should it respond to a cybermissile and a direct threat of violence? President Barack Obama has signed a directive laying out criteria for the use of US cyberforces for offense and defense. We hope he is reading it anew.

Why Sony was wrong to pull The Interview

[Commentary] Sony's decision to cancel its planned Christmas Day release of The Interview is an act of cowardice. And that cowardice will reach out and infect the rest of Hollywood's decision making for years to come. In backing away from its film, Sony has created a dangerous precedent that's already reverberating through Hollywood, including a paranoid thriller set in North Korea being developed by Steve Carell and director Gor Verbinski, which has been cancelled.

Canada unveils major wireless spectrum plan

The Canadian government unveiled a major update to its wireless airwave policy as it seeks to lower cellphone bills and bolster its coffers ahead of a federal election in 2015.

The plan calls for making more of the invisible infrastructure available includes an auction of high-frequency AWS-3 spectrum beginning on March 3, 2015. The same frequency of airwaves is being auctioned in the United States -- raising $44 billion so far -- which should encourage device makers to produce compatible gadgets. The plan, which includes blocking the three largest national wireless providers from bidding on some airwaves, should stimulate competition in wireless "through support of new entrants and ensuring that they will have access to the spectral resources they need," telecom analyst Iain Grant, of Seaboard Group, said.

How North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries, got so good at hacking

[Commentary] Can one of the poorest countries in the world, a country that has isolated itself into technological backwardness, where personal computers are banned and the Internet does not officially exist, possibly be that good at hacking? The answer is yes.

These attacks, like so much of North Korea's bluster, and like its acts of physical aggression, are really done out of insecurity and fear. They are deterrents meant to scare away the much stronger US and South Korea from doing anything to harm North Korea. How their offensive hacking program works is by recruiting promising young talent out of school. They study at a special school in Pyongyang (North Korea) for five years and are then sent to train in China or Russia, both of which run sophisticated state run cyberwar divisions. Like so much of North Korea's behavior, its cyberwarfare program is another sign that, despite its popular portrayal (including in The Interview) as a wingnut state run by delusional madmen, the country is coldly rational and brutally strategic in its actions.

Mobile phone deal will give UK 90 percent geographical coverage

Mobile phone operators have struck a deal with the UK government to fill in partial gaps in mobile coverage in a move intended to give 90 percent geographical cover from the four big networks by 2017.

Sajid Javid, the Culture Secretary, said the agreement would not cost the government any money for the moment. But he dropped a heavy hint that the regulator might cut the annual license fee that operators pay in future. Sec Javid said the legally binding deal with the four mobile networks -- EE, O2, Three and Vodafone -- would reduce poor coverage that currently affects more than a fifth of the country. Under the agreement, the four networks have collectively agreed to £5bn of investment by 2017, and guaranteed voice and text coverage across 90 percent of the UK by the same year.

Benton

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