The Obama Administration’s announcement that it would impose sanctions on North Korea due to the alleged involvement of the North Korean government in the Sony Pictures hack came amidst a growing controversy about the true nature of the DPRK’s involvement. Some experts have raised the possibility of a false flag operation, while others have suggested an inside job. However, the FBI so far has stuck to its initial narrative blaming North Korea directly for the attacks:
“The FBI has concluded the government of North Korea is responsible for the theft and destruction of data on the network of Sony Pictures Entertainment. Attribution to North Korea is based on intelligence from the FBI, the U.S. intelligence community, DHS, foreign partners and the private sector(…)There is no credible information to indicate that any other individual is responsible for this cyber incident.”
No serious cyber analyst so far has denied that this may very well turn out to be true. Nevertheless, the speed with which the U.S. government has identified the alleged culprits – despite the slim unclassified evidence available in the public domain – has taken a lot of analysts by surprise. Yet, the FBI’s conclusions may be less surprising if one views this move as part of an overall U.S. cyber deterrence strategy vicariously aimed at dissuading China and other great powers hostile to the United States from engaging in or supporting adverse behavior in cyberspace.
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