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Obama weighs tough response to NK`s hack of Sony Pictures

Obama weighs tough response to NK`s hack of Sony Pictures

Posted December. 23, 2014 06:44,   

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U.S. President Barack Obama publicly said the U.S. will respond "proportionally" to North Korea`s hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment. His declaration has given renewed attention to Tallinn Manual prepared in March last year by NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The manual was written after cyber terrorism in Tallinn, capital of Estonia, in 2007, and contains the concept of cyber terrorism and regulation on countermeasures. It could serve as a guideline to responding to the latest case.

Clause 9 of the manual says people damaged by internationally wrong cyber activities can take response actions against countries responsible for the attack. The responses countries can undertake should meet two conditions of "proportionality" and "necessity." "Proportionality" means that countries can respond proportionally to the degree of severity and damage. Meanwhile, a country can undertake necessary measures to prevent infringement of critical "defense profits."

President Obama at a press conference Friday said the U.S. would proportionally respond to North Korea, while Secretary of State John Kerry and the FBI said the latest case is a critical threat to national security. All this was based on the conditions of response activities. The 215-page manual writes individuals who committed hostile hacking can proportionally be responded, but civilians can`t be the target.

Broadcasting and media firms, financial institutions and Internet telecommunications networks can also be target. However, attacks should be refrained against agriculture, good, livestock, drinking water, irrigation facilities and medical facilities. Key national facilities such as dams, embankment, nuclear power plants, and cultural assets should also be accessed with special attention.