While speculation about who was behind the Sony security hack was never confirmed, the FBI has revealed why they're that North Korea is responsible.
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As reported by Mashable, FBI director James Comey went into detail on the attack during a cybersecurity conference in Manhattan today.
Mashable reporter Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai tweeted a quote from Comey, which explained that the "Guardians of Peace" responsible for the hack had been sloppy in covering their IP address. How confident is the director? The Intercept's Jana Winter quoted the following:
"We know who hacked Sony. It was the North Koreans," Comey stated. "I have very high confidence about this attribution."
Comey said whether it was because they forgot or they experienced a technical issue, the hackers didn't block their IP and connected directly. It was later covered up once they discovered the mistake, but not before the FBI was able to confirm that the group was connecting from North Korea. The FBI pointed fingers at Kim Jong-un's administration not long after the hack occurred, but didn't provide as much information as it did today.
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For what it's worth, several security experts disputed the FBI's claim, and caution believing its story outright. The most widely shared may have been The Daily Beast's "No, North Korea Didn't Hack Sony" article, and similar concerns have been echoed at Wired and USA Today. Even still, a new Slate piece warns against both taking Comey's word as fact, and also against fully trusting the skeptics who are trying to explain the events--it argues that we simply can't be sure what happened at this stage, and should avoid declarative statements. Whatever the case, hopefully more definitive information can be revealed in the future.
