I am a little confused by all the hubbub the The Interview movie has generated.
Did the North Korean government really do it? I have no doubt there’s a hacker unit in their intelligence agency — there’s probably one in every agency — but why would you target a movie or a Japanese entertainment studio of all things? I understand The Interview is offensive to North Koreans, but the movie isn’t even out yet so how would they even know just how bad it is.
If I was the head of that agency I’d target something more important. Something that would actually matter to national security and strategy. I wouldn’t expose my country to something as mundane as a movie, and a comedy at that.
I’m also a little confused with Sony. They pulled the movie because theaters didn’t want to show it? Everyone’s talking about this movie; it’s a goldmine with all the publicity it has generated. If I ran a movie theater I’d be falling all over myself to show it.
Was it movie theaters, or was it Sony running scared? Key execs made that decision, and it’s sensitive information about those key execs that the hacker group has threatened to release.
Then President Obama and the FBI made statements, the North Korean government too and now it’s officially a BIG DEAL.
The whole thing has left me scratching my head. It’s like a bad episode out of a TV show turned real.
THE CORNERPLAY 
– A lot of theaters did pull from showing it because the hackers threatened to launch real life attacks against people who go and watch it. I reckon it is indeed a bluffing everybody knows it, but they’re just acting safe. Both Sony and some movie theater chains were scared.
– I don’t know, North Korea targeting a “Japanese” something makes sense if only because the government are know to hate the Japanese due to historical grudges. I agree it seems weird but maybe they just wanted to focus on something if only because Sony “is” . Sony is still one of the more prominent Japanese firms out there and making it would also probably less retaliatory than say attacking something else despite what the U.S. government says as a result of this attack. In terms of damage to Sony, they seem to have succeeded to some extent because of the information leaked especially in regards to the information that was actually released.
That said, I’m not 100% convinced it was actually them either. Perhaps it’s not a simple as black and white.
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Maybe there wasn’t a threat at all. Just Sony’s attempt to hype up the movie. Sony – Make.Believe
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I got the sense that it wasn’t explicit, intentional hacking by North Korea. More like, some hacker found a massive exploit and shopped it around to see who would pay the most. Given what they found (The Interview), they thought NK was a good client, and they were; NK decided to buy it. Sony is a very strange target for a government like NK – if they really did have a talented hacking team, they’d probably spend their efforts on other governments, not random entertainment corporations. More likely, they have a mediocre hacking team that can make use of a purchased exploit.
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