Free Essay About Sony Cyber Attack

Cyber conflict has recently wracked the United States in the renowned Sony cyber attack that resulted in the release of a controversial movie on the internet, thereby enabling viewers to illegally download the film rather than pay to view it in theatres. Indeed, this security breech prompted American president Barack Obama to vow that the United States would promptly respond to the hacks at Sony Pictures Entertainment. Observers fear that the president’s response marks an unequivocal signifier that a Military-Internet complex has emerged within the United States, as the internet has functioned as a “global tool of war” imbued with significant political currency (Bernard, 2014). It is difficult, however, to fully understand cyber conflict from a transnational perspective.
Indeed, a lack of ground rules has rendered it difficult because a common ground has not been reached regarded the role of the internet in physical and intellectual warfare. Moreover, the definition of “what constitutes an act of war” further complicates this recent event. Indeed, what makes the Sony incident murky is the fact that it is hard to assertively identify who actually was responsible for an overt internet attack. “Attribution” according to the pundits, becomes the most difficult aspect of any “postmortem” attack, and figuring out who perpetrated it, the motive behind it and where they emanated from (Bernard, 2014). The United States immediately charged the North Koreans with the leak because of the North Korean anger over the satirical and perceived offensive nature of the North Koreans within a particular film. Satire is often mistaken for bigotry, yet the Americans nonetheless pinpointed to the inability for authoritarian states such as North Korea to understand the genius and nuances of satire when it comes to film and visual representation.
Nonetheless, this quick accusation waged against the North Koreans was largely based on sophistry and/or tenuous evidence, as experts viewed the accusation as politically motivated and lacking in verified information. Unfortunately, it is difficult to ascertain exactly what the United States government knows because of national security purposes. Thus, it cannot be ruled out that North Korean played a prominent role in this cyber attack. The need to potect national security has thus undergirded the U.S. efforts to make a limited amount of knowledge available to the public. While the public knowledge is “flimsy” with regards to proving that the North Koreans perpetrated this cyber crime, experts believe that the staunch stance that the American government has taken in this issue suggests that, for national security purposes, the United States government has not released all of its intelligence regarding the case (Bernard, 2014). The lack of ground rules has complicated this burgeoning investigation and thus adds nuance to what actually transpired..

References

Bernard, D. (2014, December 31). Sony incident sets dangerous precedent, cyber expert fears. Voice of America. Retrieved January 21, 2015, from http://www.voanews.com/content/sony-incident-sets-dangerous-precedent-/2580703.html