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I'm calling Jake and I am a former US government hacker. I've finally resigned for a number of reasons that do not need to be discussed here. But for obvious reasons, I have strong opinions that the US government is criminally charging hackers from other nations. When considering criminal charges, the context is important.
The task of charging Park Jin Hyok (or any North Korean government hijacker) as an individual is a human rights issue. Even assuming that the intrusions were correctly attributed to Park, it is important to note that Park had no choice in his actions.
First, it is important to note that many government-sponsored piracy operations around the world are actually carried out by soldiers. The recently accused Russian hackers support this claim. Earlier indictments against members of the Chinese PLA Unit 61398 for hacking were supported. Piracy operations in the United States have been affected by leaks from the NSA, which is part of the Department of Defense. Other leaks related to US piracy (Vault7) come from the CIA, which also works closely with the DOD.
Members of the military (and in many cases the Department of Defense civilians) are facing criminal charges for failing to follow the legitimate orders of superiors over the years. ;them. So, what is a legal order? And perhaps more importantly, what laws do we measure the word "lawful" against?
As a concrete example, consider Special Forces soldiers who help find terrorists in a foreign country. They identify a building where a terrorist is, knocking down the door, throwing a flashbang grenade, holding all occupants under the threat of a gun and fleeing with the alleged terrorist for interrogation. They follow legitimate orders from the US military, but many of their actions are really criminal in the country where they operate. The previous example features elements of break and enter, vandalism, home invasion, aggression and kidnapping.
Am I arguing that the United States should not pursue terrorists in foreign territory? Of course not. But it is instructive to consider that the military following legal orders often commit crimes in the country where they operate.
Let's bring this example back to the cyber world. Because Park was born and lives in North Korea, there is no doubt that he was indoctrinated by the state from birth. The fact that North Korean citizens undergo institutional brainwashing to unambiguously follow the orders of the state is not a topic of debate. For those who defy the orders of the state, the penalties are severe for both the offender and his family. If you doubt it, only Google "three generations of punishment" (attention: I can not mentally prepare you for what you see).
The attribution of cybercrime is difficult when we assign an operation to a nation. It is more difficult to attribute the operation to a particular group within that nation. Assigning the operation to a particular individual is particularly difficult even under the best circumstances. Given what we know publicly about Sony's network instrumentation at the time of the attacks and the fact that the attackers destroyed evidence using wiping machines, this is hardly the best of circumstances.
But even assuming that the attribution to Park is correct, remember that Park must comply with the orders of the state. Park was sent to the school to learn computer science and then was ordered to put his talents to good use for the state. Not only did Park have no choice when he was ordered to hack Sony, but maybe he did not even feel like doing anything wrong.
How could Park not realize that he was committing a crime? First, we must discuss good and bad. The definitions of good and bad are relative to one's own culture. Even our own definitions of right and wrong in the western world have changed over time. Like most people living in North Korea, it is reasonable to conclude that Park has been denied access to news and opinions not expressly approved by the state. Although Park had access to outside media as part of its hacking operations, it is unlikely that he could have been able to properly frame it.
Sony's piracy, in which Park allegedly participated, was in fact a censorship operation. Sony was to release the movie "The Interview", which portrays the leader of North Korea in a very negative light. The North Korean government has hacked Sony and carried out destructive actions on corporate networks to prevent the release of the film. Through the prism of Western standards, it is patently wrong for a nation to hack a private company for censorship purposes. But government censorship is part of everyday life in North Korea. Sony's operation falls entirely within the social norms of the country while violating ours.
Park will never be extradited to the United States to face charges. He will not be allowed to travel to a country where he will be extradited to the United States. The United States knows it. These charges are then purely symbolic. In addition, Park did not wake up one morning and decided to hack Sony (or any other target), he was ordered to do so.
If the United States wants to punish someone, they should focus on the North Korean government, not Park. So why are not they? The answer is that the United States has bad diplomatic relations with North Korea. Examine criminal hackers by the United States in recent years. We have pirates from Russia, Iran, China and now North Korea. What do all these countries have in common? These are countries where the United States has extended diplomatic relations. We have tried diplomatic channels, sanctions, etc., and nothing works. It seems that the strategy now is to target the actual operators by following the legal orders of their governments.
Examine carefully if you think that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are the only countries that have been caught in the act of hacking American networks. I think the US government has ample evidence that it is taking charges against hackers in many other countries, but it is not doing so because the use of diplomatic channels is more effective.
Park will never be brought to justice (no matter what it means in this case). He will be killed by his own government before being fired to face charges. If he tries to get rid of himself, his family will be punished or murdered. I do not say it lightly: if you are loading Park, you have blood on your hands.
When I hacked into the US government, I followed legitimate orders in the same way as government hackers from any other country. I had the choice to participate in government hacking operations. The people involved in the billing of the parks have the choice to participate or not in these actions. Park had no choice. Piracy against Sony (and many others) is definitely wrong, but billing Park (or any other government hacker) will not solve the biggest problem.
