Don't know about all the North Korea hate. There is no published evidence that the Sony attack originated there. Besides isn't it obvious that anyone with a grudge against Sony would do their best to make it appear that the attack came from North Korea?
Perhaps a better question would be why was Sony such a soft target? After all:
While the company had a heightened awareness of denial-of-service attacks and other threats at the edge of the network, its internal IT staff was stretched thin. Earlier this year, Sony Pictures experienced repeated trouble with e-mail service, as its Microsoft Exchange 2007 infrastructure strained under the companys e-mail load and its retention policy that forced users to keep e-mail in their inboxes forever, which had been in place for nearly seven years. A reduction in the amount of IT support from corporate parent Sony Corporation of America and poor support team training exacerbated the problems, according to e-mails leaked out of Sony Pictures.
The international aspect of Sony Pictures and the layoffs that the company had undertaken earlier this year overseas and in the US gave some credence to the claims by the Guardians of Peace that they were acting on behalf of former employees. The unprofessional nature of the code used in the Destover wiper malware adds to that illusion. It used commercial components and looks like something hobbled together from a well-worn malware kit bought off an underground web forum.
Reportedly, the attack code wasn't very sophisticated.
...
Craig Williams, senior technical leader for Ciscos Talos Security Intelligence and Research Group, in an interview with Ars. The code is simplistic, not very complex, and not very obfuscated.
Though, I do think that the attack is significant irregardless of where the attack came from... The fact that a major organization like Sony could leave itself vulnerable to attack by code that is "...simplistic, not very complex..." seems like major management malpractice to me...
Just my perspective, I think that organizations like Sony have an obligation to have decent information security... Blaming some crazy Asian for Sony's problem doesn't seem productive... Leave your door unlocked long enough, some one is going to walk through it...
Continue with your revenge fantasy if you want, but you might want to ask one of the still living crewmen from the
USS Pueblo how much US deterrence impacts North Korean behaviours...
Uno