Page 109 - 121 News Today

>> reporter: u.s. officials are looking to place the blame on north korea, pulling the plug on its comedy "the interview," depicting the assassination of kim jong un. >> take him out. >> law enforcement sources say the blueprint of the current attack mimicked a hack against media organizations last year. according to a north korean defector, the north koreans have a vast secretive network of hackers around the world called bureau 121. >> unit 121 is a highly sophisticated organization under the ...

North korean military to break bricks on their faces, that has people scared. its breaking through firewalls that has companies all over the place on heightened alert. the big question, is it possible to defend yourself from a sophisticated hack? lets get guidance from a man once called the most wanted computer hacker in the united states. with us now, kevin mitnick, ceo of mitnicksecurity.com. are these guys at bureau 121 better than guys like you? >> well, i think bureau 121 would be pretty so...

The individuals behind the hack, the u.s. could also levy criminal charges against north korean hackers. a step the u.s. took against an elite group of chinese hackers earlier this year. this building outside of shanghai and known as unit 61398. so who are the alleged north korean culprits? u.s. december tors suspect a top secret group within the north korean military called cryptically, bureau 121, made up of at least 1800 cyberwarriors scattered around the globe. >> one of the reasons you have...

Hired or someone inside of sony who provided them with all kinds of inside access. >> reporter: u.s. investigators have evidence that hackers stole the computer credentials of a sony system administrator to get inside access. but could another government have helped north korea? one analyst says another u.s. enemy may be involved. >> there are signs that suggest iran may indeed have helped because they have worked together on missile development for many years, because iran has been a major clie...

And more recently against russia following its invasion of crimea and eastern ukraine. naming and shaming north korea publicly is another step, a move the u.s. took years to make with beijing, despite its multiple and systematic cyberattacks against u.s. businesses and government departments. if u.s. investigators identify the individuals behind the hack, the u.s. could also levee criminal charges against north korean hackers, a step the u.s. took against an elite group of chinese hackers earlie...

Hackers. kyung lah has more. you spoke with a defector, a former military systems worker. what did he tell you about this army of hackers known as bureau 121? >> reporter: 121, he wants you to think of them as a giant army. 1800 agents that spread around the world with one sole mission. they want to hack into companies with western interests. so how did this all happen? theyre picking, selecting the very, very best of the best out of pyongyang, the smartest students. training them, theyre lazere...

Any real evidence that they could do much beyond that. in this unit 121 and so called reconnaissance bureau, the rgb within the stricture of the north korean state. we know theyve been cultivating this capability. it hasnt been to the level, at least from what i understand from the public domain, it has not been to the level that weve seen in the case of sony this time. so in that sense, yeah, its fair to say that we were surprised by this action, this attack. >> what was your reaction to the th...

Technicolor parading force against the west. on state run television a near ridiculous bravado of the military. but there are unseen soldiers in the cyberwar versus the west. they have no face and only known by a number, bureau 121. >> what is bureau 121? >> reporter: they conduct the cyberattacks against overseas and enemy states. he is a north korean defector, former pyongyang military systems computer administrator, attempting to crumble an agency nearly impossible to chase. bureau 121, a sha...

Corporation. has this 121 done anything before successfully? >> yeah. south koreas government has been hot on the trail of 121 because last year, ground to a halt. the atms. every atm unable to withdraw cash. people werent able to get money out because of malware that affected the banking system here in south korea. some of the broadcasting companies went completely dark and what they saw on their servers is a shadowy image that sony employees reported seeing, that skull and cross bones, the eer...

Didnt know where it was coming from. however, the nsa and the fbi were able to trace it back to north korea, carol, and it really matched up with hacks that had been seen before that have come from north korea. now, this is obviously become a bigger than just a movie, right? this has become a national security issue and michael mccall, the homeland security secretary addressed this very question to cnn. >> i would say that sony and private movie theaters are free to make any choices they think a...