A few hours North Korea came back online after a day in which its Internet connections had become unstable and then got completely cut off. There are no official explanations on the causes of the blackout but the timing suggests a cyber attack, possibly by the USA. Suspicions follow the open accusations by the USA to North Korea for the attacks and threats to Sony that led to the decision not to distribute the movie “The Interview”.
In recent days media have extensively discussed the case related to the movie “The Interview”, whose plot concerns North Korea’s leader of Kim Jong-un. Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production company of the movie, suffered a cyber attack and subsequent threats of physical attacks on the theater that would screen the movie by a group calling itself Guardians Of Peace.
North Korea denied its involvement in the attacks against Sony but the FBI made explicit accusations. A few days ago, representatives of the USA were sent by President Barack Obama to Beijing to seek the cooperation of the Chinese authorities in blocking the attacks.
Internet connections in North Korea go through China so the position of the Asian giant strategic to say the least. However, officially the Chinese government believes that there’s no evidence that the attacks to Sony came from North Korea.
Internet access in North Korea is tightly controlled by the government, like everything in that country. If the attacks against Sony really started from there, the government is responsible. The limited infrastructure also make it relatively easy to attack them. An organized group such as an American intelligence service could very well cause a blackout like the one that took place yesterday. Maybe Anonymous could do it as well.
Whatever really happened, this will not be the last chapter in what is becoming a third millennium international plot. In the Internet age, online attacks are becoming more and more common and are followed by accusations and counter-accusations. Don’t expect to get to know the whole truth, at least not in the near future.
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