PYONGYANG: U.S. investigators believe that North Korea likely hired hackers from outside the country to help with last month’s massive cyberattack against Sony Pictures, an official close to the investigation said on Monday.
While U.S. officials investigate whether North Korea enlisted help from outside contractors, the FBI stood by its previous statement that Pyongyang was the prime author of the attack against the Sony Corp unit.
“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,” the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. North Korea has denied that it was behind the Sony attack and has vowed to hit back against any U.S. retaliation.
The people who claimed responsibility for the hack have said on Internet postings that they were incensed by the Sony Pictures film “The Interview,” a comedy about a fictional assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong UN. Because of the hackers’ threats, major U.S. cinema chains refused to show the film.
Blaming North Korea some private security experts have begun to question whether Pyongyang was behind the Sony cyberattack at all.
