“Sony may have been a practice run for attacks on telecoms and electrical grids in other countries. The goal this time is to strike blows against South Korea and the United States. ... As long as water runs from the tap and electricity is available from the wall, very few will understand the risks and dangers that a digital attack on infrastructure by a hostile power represents. ... For too many, this seems like a message from the future. That future, however, is already here. It seems like a message from the future. Only a few years ago, such a story would have been dismissed as far-fetched science fiction by the very industry it is now playing out in real life. And thats the plot: An entertainment company plans to release a comedy with a plot that offends a totalitarian regime. Subsequently, cyber attacks paralyze the company. Vast amounts of internal film company data and private employee information are stolen and made public. The cyber attack is accompanied by threats of large-scale attacks wherever the film is scheduled to screen. Totally intimidated, company executives cancel the world premiere, the film is withdrawn, and the American president declares the matter a question of national security and announces an “appropriate response.” This could well mean a military strike against another country, and according to U.S. government sources, the “digital footprints” point to North Korea. This hacker attack on the Hollywood studios of Sony Pictures and its satire The Interview - about the murder of Dictator Kim Jong-Un by two journalists - may have seemed droll to many, but the ramifications must be taken very seriously. It is a realization that is only slowly sinking in among the public around the world. Earlier in the week, jokes were all the rage in otherwise very reputable German commentary about this. Now refugees from North Korea and U.S. experts alike are pointing out that the attack on Sony may have been a practice run for attacks on telecoms and electrical grids in other countries. The goal is to strike blows against South Korea and the United States. The FBI has warned a number of major American companies of further attacks. However, the potential consequences of the Sony hacks aren’t the only things people are trivializing. The course of events themselves and their implications for universalized essential rights and free speech are often hardly taken seriously. Actor George Clooney failed in his efforts to lobby among Hollywoods elite to show solidarity with the plundered entertainment group. Finally, Sony Pictures may well be considered the victim of a cyber terrorist attack by an enemy state - and on American soil. Even so, when Clooney circulated a petition, nobody was willing to sign it, the actor announced Friday. In the face of an attack that can confidently be called the 9/11 of the American film industry, this reveals a shocking level of ignorance - or cowardice. The international guild of so-called Internet activists, which usually sounds a shrill civil rights alarm with much less provocation, is exercising elegant restraint or even showing open malice with respect to the fate of these looted entertainment industry giants. Costly Damage It may well be that incompetence and inefficiency made this massive cyber attack possible. However, that can never justify mocking the victims of cyber terrorism. After all, here we have an example when an enterprises economic survival and its freedom to publish are at stake. It must be the case it seems, and here, too, movie fiction mimics real life: A danger must be concretely experienced before being taken seriously. As long as water runs from the tap and electricity is available from the wall, very few will understand the risks and dangers that a digital attack on infrastructure by a hostile power represents. In this country too, important news is too often overlooked. All the while, the attacks are coming closer. For instance, in its annual report last week, the Federal Office for Information Security described cyber attacks on a German steel company that led to costly damages to a blast furnace. Few considered the report newsworthy. For too many, something like this still seems like a message from the future. That future, however, is already here.
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 03:42:39 +0000
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