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North Korea's Mysterious Internet Blackout
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
December 22, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Before leaving for his annual Christmas vacation in
Honolulu, President Barack Obama told the press he would respond to a North
Korea’S hack of Culver City-based Sony Pictures. When Sony Pictures reported their computer systems were infected with malware about three
weeks ago, the FBI jumped quickly on the case.
Prompting cancellation of Sthe Christmas Day release of “The Interview”
starring comedians Seth Rogan and James Franco, 54-year-old Sony Pictures CEO
Michael Lynton insisted the Studio pulled the film due to concerns from theaters
chains about a possible terror attack.
When Barack signaled the cancellation was “a mistake,” Lynton got
defensive, justifying the studio’s decision to cancel the film’s release date.
Today’s report that North Korea’s entire Internet network went down indicates
that Obama was doing more than playing golf in Hawaii.
Confirming that North Korea’s Internet network was “totally down” shows
that the U.S. reacted swiftly to North Korea’s hack of Sony Pictures. While the White House declined
comment, State Department spokeswoman Marie Hart hinted about the government’s
response: “Some will be seen, some
may not be seen,” signaling that the U.S. responded to the North Korean hack. Shutting down North Korea’s entire
Internet only days before Christmas rains on its leader Kim Jong-un’s plan to
order more Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon champagne. Condemned today in the U.N. Security
Council for crimes against humanity, North Korea only makes excuses, blames the
West, especially South Korea and U.S., continuing its insulation from the
outside world. Watching their
Internet fail, North Korea only makes more threats against the White House and
civilized world.
Sony Pictures didn’t realize the Constitutional issues shutting down “The
Interview’s” release under threat from a foreign government. First Amendment guarantees that no
threat of retaliation can interfere with free speech assured under the Bill of Rights. Sony Pictures legal team responded today that “The Interview” would be released at some
point. “Sony only delayed this,”
Sony attorney David Boies told NBC’s “Meet The Press.” Sony has been
fighting to get this movie distributed.
It will be distributed,” insisted Boies, giving no specifics but
acknowledging Sony’s Constitutional problems withholding the film’s release. Acknowledging that “North Korea’s
totally down,” Doug Madory, director of Internet analysis at Manchester,
N.H.-based Dyn Research, confirmed the U.S. response. After threatening retaliation, the
U.S. waits Kim’s response to the Internet shutdown.
Threatening war against U.S., North Korea, while denying the charges of
hacking Sony Pictures, threatened attacks against the White House and U.S.
homeland. FBI counter-terrorism
officials concluded that Pyongyang was behind the cyber attack causing
significant financial losses to Sony Pictures.
Threatening attacks against “the whole U.S mainland, that cesspool of
terrorism,” North Korea, now deals with a complete shutdown of its Internet
system. How long it takes Pyongyang
to get back up-and-running is anyone’s guess.
White House officials hope the U.S. response will deter future episodes
of North Korean cyber terrorism.
Conservatives on Capitol Hill, led by incoming Chairman of the Sen. Armed
Services Committee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), haven’t yet acknowledged Obama’s
swift-and-effective response to North Korea’s cyber attack on Sony Pictures.
Conservatives were antagonized when Obama apparently backpedaled Sunday,
stating emphatically that North Korea’s attack was a form of “cyber vandalism,”
not “cyber terrorism or warfare.”
Kim warned that his1.2 million-man army would be on alert to respond to any
counterattack by the U.S. “Our
toughest conteraction will be boldly taken against the White House, the Pentagon
and the whole U.S. mainland, the cesspool of terrorism, by far suppressing the
‘symmetric counteraction’ declared by Obama,” said North Korea’s National
Defense Commission. Often
threatening the U.S., the Pentagon doesn’t take Kim’s threats too seriously,
though lashing out a South Korea or some other U.S. ally looks more likely. North Korea’s dire poverty in
contrast to its prosperous South Korean neighbor highlights vividly the contrast
between free markets and old school Stalinism.
Threatening the U.S. with more cyber or military attacks, Kim Jong-un
shows why he was denounced today in the U.N. Security Council. Highlighting gross human rights
violations in North Korea, the Security Council has a broad consensus about
referring the Stalinist state to the International Criminal Court. Referring Kim to the ICC has only
symbolic value, something unlikely to do anything other prompt him to lockdown
the state more completely. Obama’s quick response shutting down North Korea’s Internet sends a loud message to the
31-year-old scion of North Korea’s three-generation cult of charismatic
leadership. Still conducting
primitive nuclear tests, Kim hopes to develop a nuclear ballistic missile in the
near future. Kim’s nuclear missile
capability threatens Japan and other U.S. Pacific Rim allies, prompting Obama to
send Kim a loud message.
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