US unlikely to retaliate againstN Korea with its own cyberattack
Retaliation for Sony likely to be kept quiet to avoid North's desire for public showdown
If the US decides to retaliate over North Korea's hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment computers, officials could target Pyongyang's financial resources, its illicit drug and counterfeiting operations or the hackers themselves.
Yesterday the Obama administration said it had determined the North Korean government was behind the devastating cyber attack against the company.
But one thing the Obama administration is unlikely to do is unleash a tit-for-tat cyberattack, analysts said. Any eventual US response also will likely be unannounced, in order to avoid feeding the North Koreans' desire for a public showdown with the world's sole superpower.
"What the North Koreans can't stand is when no one pays attention to them," said Joel Brenner, former head of US counterintelligence. "What we do may not be publicly known, but the North Koreans will know who did it."
The attack on Sony last month has quickly erupted into a national security issue for the administration. Law enforcement and intelligence officials have sufficient evidence to determine with high confidence that the North Korean government is responsible, said a person familiar with the probe.
The incident crippled computers at Sony's Culver City, California-based studio, forcing the company to pull its movie The Interview after major theatre chains said they wouldn't show the picture. A group claiming credit for the attack invoked September 11 this week in threatening movie fans with violence if they went out to see the film.