The Sony cyber-attack: Whodunit?
Why would North Korea be mad at Sony?
Well, maybe because of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s new movie:
Some speculate the North Korean government was mad enough to carry out the recent cyber-attack on the Sony Pictures Entertainment network.
But Kim Zetter, a senior staff reporter at Wired, says she’s not buying it.
“Nation State hacks aren’t generally noisy like this, and they don’t generally start with a picture of a skull on computers,” Zetter says. Instead of a covert national effort on North Korea’s part, Zetter thinks the attack on Sony probably came from hacker group Guardians of Peace.
The FBI stresses that businesses should take caution due to the recent hacking incidents. But according to Zetter, plenty of individuals within the company also might find themselves victims of malicious software attacks. While Sony has yet to confirm what the hackers acquired, Zetter says it could be Social Security numbers of Sony employees, passport information from celebrities and employee salary information.
What can companies do to safeguard against hackers?
“Everyone is going to get hacked,” Zetter says. “The question is: What is your game plan for dealing with a hack once you discover it?”
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