North Korean Web goes dark days after Obama pledges response to Sony hack

North Korea’s fledgling Internet access went dark Monday, days after President Obama promised a “proportional response” to the nation’s alleged hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. The question of who pulled the plug immediately became the stuff of a global cyber-mystery.

Was it a shadowy crew of guerrilla hackers, under the flag of Anonymous? A retaliatory strike from the United States? A betrayal from China, North Korea’s top ally and its Web gatekeeper? Or just a technical glitch or defensive maneuver from the Hermit Kingdom itself?

On Monday, a State Department official issued a somewhat coy non-denial when asked about U.S. involvement in North Korea’s blackout. The official wouldn’t comment on how the government plans to avenge North Korea’s alleged attack on Sony but added, “As we implement our responses, some will be seen, some will not be seen.”

The mystery behind North Korea’s 9 1/2 -hour outage highlights a paradox of modern cyberwarfare: As attacks become more prominent, the combatants — and their motives — are becoming harder to identify.....................http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/north-korean-web-goes-dark-days-after-obama-pledges-response-to-sony-hack/2014/12/22/b76fa0a0-8a1d-11e4-9e8d-0c687bc18da4_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage
22/12/14
--
-
Related:

• North Korea's internet links have been restored, but it is not clear how stable they are, the US-based internet monitoring company Dyn said on Tuesday...

• North Korea experienced sweeping Internet outages for hours before coming back online late Monday...