US asked for China’s help on North Korea cyberattacks, says official
Washington has asked Beijing to help block cyberattacks from North Korea as President Obama considers the response to the hack of Sony Pictures, a US official said on Saturday.
The United States has asked China to help block cyberattacks from North Korea as it weighs a response to the crippling hack of Sony Pictures, a US official said on Saturday.
“We have discussed this issue with the Chinese to share information, express our concerns about this attack and to ask for their cooperation,” a senior US administration official told reporters.
The US blames the isolated state for the hacking that prompted the cancellation of the Christmas Day release of ,” a madcap film about a CIA plot to kill leader Kim Jong-un that infuriated the North.
“We will respond proportionately and we’ll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose.”
North Korea called on Saturday for a joint investigation with the US into the crippling attack on Sony, denouncing Washington’s “slandering” after President Barack Obama warned Pyongyang of retaliation.
China is North Korea’s closet ally, and has traditionally had long-standing influence with the leaders of the hermit state.
The US administration official said that in “our cybersecurity discussions, both China and the United States have expressed the view that conducting destructive attacks in cyberspace is outside the norms of appropriate cyber behaviour.”
The US and China last year set up a special panel to discuss cybersecurity.
