Something the world did not need last week was a playbook on how to bring a multimillion-dollar company to its knees. It got one regardless of the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment. A group of hackers, alleged by the US to be part of the North Korean government, broke into the company’s network, stealing emails, media and personal information. It then released the information onto the internet, causing Sony an — as yet — unending stream of embarrassment and financial harm.
If North Korea was involved, then it acted stupidly. First, it accomplished the opposite of what it set out to do. Instead of exacting revenge for The Interview, a movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jung-un that Sony was set to release today, the attack gave the film more press attention than it would ever have garnered on its own. In fact, North Korea successfully turned a low-brow comedy destined for the discount bin into this year’s “must-see” film.
Second, the attack could prompt the greatest re-assessment of corporate security since the development of the microchip. Shielding corporate networks has always been an expensive, restrictive and often ineffective effort, but this high-profile incident should be a wake-up call to the entire business world. It should be clear now that their assets are on the line.
It should also lead to major re-evaluation of just how governments deal with cybercriminals. The billions of dollars spent every year by everyone, from governments to individuals, on software to protect computers from these type of attacks is money spent treating the symptoms of a disease. A cure means arresting and shutting down hackers. Law enforcement, already burdened with fighting crime in the physical world, shows little ability in combating crime in a digital one. Government agencies need more money and resources to hire technologically-talented experts who are needed and acquire top-of-the-line hardware necessary to successfully combat this new digital-era threat.
China and the US have both shown, over the years, that they have the technology to rival even the most sophisticated of amateur hackers. If their secret security agencies can break into Google, then a well-funded cyber police force should have little trouble tackling North Korea, let alone a teenage hacker.
