Hacker News Reader

Comment by dmschulman | Hacker News Reader

And a resolution that removes all incompetency from Sony's end while simultaneously painting them as the victim of terrorism.

View on HN

I wish I could remember the HN thread, but another HNer who claimed to have worked for Sony Picture's security described the security system as non-existent and was surprised that it hadn't happened sooner... Now to go looking for that.

Even if their security system was poorly constructed, they're still victims of cyber terrorism.

I have to take exception with the term terrorism here. They were victims of cyber crime, sure.

Not necessarily Sony, but the last missives threatening 9/11-style attacks on movie theaters would count as terrorism. Up until that point it was a hacking scandal against Sony. Once you start threatening the movie-going public, then you move into terrorism.

And any of us who've worked in a corporate environment know that Sony is by no means exceptional in that respect. There are security vulnerabilities all over cyberspace just waiting for someone to exploit them (just as in real life). We're protected mainly by some combination of good will, disinterest, and fear of punishment (also as in real life).

I thought it was interesting how much the FBI wanted to paint this as a natural and normal part of their job. If I'm dumb enough to leave my computer vulnerable to the world and someone steals my credit card data, is the FBI going to come help me investigate too?

You're being rhetorical, but yes, citizens and companies can and do regularly report internet crimes to the FBI and have them investigated.

Normally the FBI would want to see monetary loss of e.g. $50k (arbitrary number I just chose) before they start caring, so your credit card probably isn't going to cut it.

You seriously think that your debit card is on the same playing field as this attack? Get real, the FBI doesn't care about your checking account, nor should they.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com