The Current

Pressure is on the U.S to retaliate against Sony hackers, but who's behind attack?

The movie "The Interview" is no longer coming to a theatre near you. The Sony Pictures flick about snubbing out North korea's leader Kim Jung-Un-- has apparently led to some very real life retaliation. But is the Hermit Kingdom really behind the Hack? And what kind of precedent is Sony Pictures setting by putting the film back in the can?...
The movie "The Interview" is no longer coming to a theatre near you. The Sony Pictures flick about snubbing out North korea's leader Kim Jung-Un-- has apparently led to some very real life retaliation. But is the Hermit Kingdom really behind the Hack? And what kind of precedent is Sony Pictures setting by putting the film back in the can?


The off-screen drama surrounding the "Sony hack" continues this week, and in a big way. This all started around a month ago, when the Hollywood studio's computers were infiltrated, and embarrassing internal emails started leaking out.

The shadowy group that claimed responsibility said it wanted just one thing -- to halt the release of a new Sony film called "The Interview." And this week it seems the group got its wish.

"The Interview" takes shots at North Korea ... and while the U.S. has yet to lay blame publicly for the Sony hack on North Korea's doorstep, there have been many press reports to that effect.

Now the pressure is growing on the Obama administration to clarify what kind of response it will take against cases of cyber-terrorism ... if that's indeed what we've just seen.

Frank Feinstein is the Chief Technical Officer with North Korea News. He has tracked and archived everything North Korea has publicly put online since it joined the internet community in 2012.

David Kennedy is founder of Trusted Sec, a security consulting firm. He's not convinced that the attack on Sony fits with North Korea's capabilities.

The story of the Sony hack may still be unfolding as we speak, but one thing's clear -- there will be no real resolution to this story until the hackers are brought to justice. There are mounting calls inside the U.S. for just that. But it will be no easy task.

David Maxwell is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces colonel, and the Associate Director of the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.


Have thoughts you want to add to this discussion?

Tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Or e-mail us through our website. Find us on Facebook. Call us toll-free at 1 877 287 7366.

This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant and Leif Zapf-Gilje.