Washington: North Korea’s role in the devastating Sony hack was dismissed by the FBI in its first public statement on the matter.
At a cyber-security panel on Tuesday, Joe Demarest, assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division said, “There is no attribution to North Korea at this point.†An FBI spokesman said the agency is still searching for the hackers, but wouldn’t provide additional information.
Several researchers have suggested that North Korea – or at least North Korean sympathizers – were behind the attack as retaliation for Sony’s upcoming movie, The Interview. The comedy film depicts a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jung Un.
Pyongyang, however, denied being behind the cyber-attack, but released a statement Sunday saying that it may have been a ‘righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers’ of North Korea.Â
On Monday, reports claimed that the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures originated from a $250-per-night, five-star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. Authorities were not sure whether the hackers stayed as guests at the hotel, simply used the wifi in the lobby, or routed the traffic through the hotel.
The attack had left the social security numbers, salary details and other secrets of 47,000 employees out in the open.