we don't want to see cyberattacks that we can't stop. so north korea not at top of the league when it comes to cyberattacks. not even as good as iran, but very dangerous. >> that was cnn's jim sciutto reporting. now the shelved release of "the interview" is believed to have triggered this cyberattack. but it's not the first time sony has been victimized by hackers. that's a very important point as we bring in our will ripley who is tracking all of this for us from tokyo. and sony pictures, that's just a small fraction of the overall sony empire. but this is a company that has been hacked on a regular basis. won't there be increasing blame now pointed toward the company, saying that the company should have known better and done more to prevent this in the first place? >> reporter: yeah, this really is quite sounding an alarm. not only for sony's parent company in tokyo, sony pictures in the united states, but a bunch of corporations that are now reexamining their cybersecurity. you may be going into work tomorrow morning and find that you

we don't want to see cyberattacks that we can't stop. so north korea, not at the top of the league when it comes to cyberattacks. not even as good as iran, but very dangerous. >> and you heard there jim mention bureau 121, that's the secretive north korean spy and hacking agency that is suspected to be behind all of this. >> yeah. and it's believed the cyberwarriors have struck before. a north korean defector gaving us a glimpse inside the secret world of north korean's hackers. >> they are shadow warriors, battleground -- cyberspace. they're placed around the world with one sole mission, hack into and disrupt u.s. interests. a force against the west. on state-run television, a near ridiculous bravado of the military, but there are unseen soldiers in kim jong un's cyberwar against the west. they have no face and only known by a number, bureau 121. what is bureau 121? they conduct the cyberattacks against overseas and enemy states, says this man. jong is a north korean defector, a former military computer systems work e, now in south kore

like the north korean cyberattack. that's become a huge issue and presumably will dominate this news conference that is about to begin or isis emerging as a threat not only to syria but iraq after the u.s. invested more than a decade, lost a lot of troops, spent trillions of dollars of dealing with iraq. stuff that isn't anticipated could become huge nightmare. >> the parts of your foreign policy legacy that are out of your control. kwoo cuba, more in your control. iraq, certainly not. the defense secretary signing deployment orders for more than 1300 troops. by february, there will be 3,000 troops in iraq up from zero just earlier this year and they are much more forward. they are going to be in a dozen forward-training places around the country. those soldiers could die. that's a foreign policy challenge this president may not foresee. of course, he's prepared himself for it but americans keeping that crisis somewhat at a distance but if american soldiers start dying on the ground or over the air in iraq, what is the

they've been engages in cyberattacks previously against u.s.ent agencies and private companies, so it is a very real threat. >> and that model is almost proximate to that of the pla the people's liberation army of china china, and some are saying this looks as though it were a coordinated cyberattack with china. >> it might be. we don't know the details but north korea is capable of doing operations by itself. it has got 5,000, perhaps even 10,000, people in these cyber units. maybe in conjunction with china, but it could be done by north korea itself. >> to your point, bruce, last night in talking with ambassador bill richardson who knows as much about korea as any politician in this country in my opinion, he was surprised at the extent of their capability in cyber warfare. when he is surprised, it is impressive. it is also disturbing that our officials have no real rejoinder or strategy or apparent path to respond to this attack. >> exactly. i'm concerned as part of the pattern with president obama we're going to see a firm resolute rhetoric

is set to publicly blame north korea for the cyberattack on sony.ncement could happen in the coming day. officials say hackers stole credentials of a system administrator to access sony's computers, meaning it was not an inside job. >>> in cairns, australia, police say they have found eight children dead inside a suburban house. their ages range between 18 months and 15 years old. officials say a woman who is the mother of seven of the victims is receiving treatment for her wounds, and is assisting officials with their investigation. police say they have no suspects in the case, and they're not talking about how these children died. >>> russian president vladimir putin did his best to ease people's fears over the country's tumbling economy, but in a news conference thursday, he also went on to say the country needs to guard its sovereignty to avoid becoming what he calls a chained bear. putin says russia's economic downturn could last two years. >>> the cyberattack on sony led the studio to pull the release of its film "the interview" about a fictio

will strike back for the cyberattack on sony pictur pictures. >> they caused a lot of damage. we will respond. we will respond proportionally, and we will respond in a place and time and manner in we choose. it is not something that i would announce here in a press conference. >> it determined that north korea launched the cyberattack on sony. the fbi sited several factors for its conclusion. links to other malware including similarities in code and algorithms. they traced several international it addresses associated with known north korean infrastructure. and they found similarities with a cyberattack launched by north korea against south korea banks and media outlets. >> hello, north korea! >> the cyberattack was apparently motivated by the sony movie "the interview," a plot against north korea's leader. >> after threats of violence sony decided to cancel the movie. but president obama in his end of year news conference criticized that decision. >> yes, i think they made a mistake. we cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here

sony canceled its release after a cyberattack that the u.s. blames on north korea.yang insists it was not involved in that hack. u.s. president, barack obama, called the attack an act of cybervandalism. but u.s. senator john mccain described it as an act of war. >> when you destroy economies, when you are able to impose censorship on the world, and especially the united states of am kate is more than vandalism. it's a new form of warfare that we are involved in. and we need to react, react vigorously. including reimposing sanctions that were lifted under the bush administration. including other actions that will squeeze them more economically. but most of all, we have to really work together with the president and the congress to come up with counters and abilities to -- to respond to, but more, more importantly, to prevent. >> john mccain there. well the director of bbc television is also weighing in on the issue. danny cohen. oversees, bbc entertainment programming says he is deeply concerned about the implications of sony's decision. >> the big thing the most imp

north korea insists it was not behind the cyberattack.s kyung lah reports for us, now pyongyang is warning of serious consequences if the u.s. retaliates. >> reporter: just hours after president obama lands in hawaii for the christmas holiday -- the regime lashes out via its state-run television. with all of its usual bluster the regime slams the u.s. government's investigation of the sony hack as childish. that north korea is being framed, saying it can prove its innocence without using any torture methods like the american cia. those digs come in response to president obama that the evidence points to pyongyang. >> they caused a lot of damage. and we will respond. we will respond proportionately. and we'll respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. >> reporter: north korea directly rebuked the president, saying it is the one who should respond after insults to its supreme leader but adds it will not conduct terror against innocent moviegoers, rather target the originators of the insult. >> you two are going to be in a room a

you, too. >>> can anyone really prevent a cyberattack like the one that took place at sony.uld the u.s. government being responsible for protecting your information online, even if it's at private companies? maybe the company you work for should take a more proactive approach. the plan in the works to defend your information against hackers. that's next. hello... i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho seal. >>> welcome back to "the lead". i'm jake tapper. is this a victory for cyberterrorists? that's the question that many are asking after sony canceled the release of the comedy "the interview." what, if anything, is the u.s. government or private sector doing to protect our most vulnerable information? forget th

for its response to the massive cyberattack. we have that and more coming up at 6:00. >> let us bow our heads for a word of prayer. our father and our most gracious god. as this family, the murdough family and their friends, as they gather, we ask that you send your comforter, your holy spirit, your guide, to be with them. >> queens, new york. jerome murdough's family is laying him to rest. four months ago, 56-year-old jerome was arrested for

that can deal with these type of cyberattacks. but this is a cyberattack. and if we look at the main culprits in the world who are responsible for cyberattack worldwide, the first one is china. at 41%. and at number two is america at 10%. so we have to not con late in the issue of a cyberattack with other issues. >> don't you think they held the movie for self interests. it had nothing to do with national security. if it did -- remember now, they claim that 9/11 style attacks were going to take place at theaters. why wasn't -- weren't the people at the highest level of the government consulted on that. >> that's the key question and sony don't there "have the a apparatus to understand that. >> joe, your take on these new developments? >> i don't know why sony pulled the film. but i agree with the president, it was a mistake. and he described why in his press conference today. he was mr. cool about this. look, i don't think we should be making movie that approve of the assassination of national leaders even humorously, but once you made such a film you have

for instance, let's say tapper inc gets cyberattacked. if i take that information to the government, do i have immunity? that's a big question. encouraging transparency among these private corporations. what can they get in exchange for that? they want immunity to make sure that they're cooperating with the government and doesn't hurt them or hurt their bottom line so there are tricky issues that need to be addressed. soon hopefully. there will be progress made but -- >> in the meantime, if this can happen to sony of all places, that's the fear that it could happen -- >> i don't think the movie theater companies were only worried about acts of terrorism although certainly they were and possible lone wolves or copycats or whatever. they don't want their ceo e-mails hacked into. none of us do. it's one of the reasons why there's this debate should we be reporting on the contents. this is just the beginning of very, very ugly situation. >> jake tapper. thank you. >> i'm sorry. i come up here and i don't spread holiday cheer, do i? >> no, you

we experienced the worst cyberattack in american history and persevered for 3 1/2 weeks under enormouss and enormous difficulty. and all with the effort of trying to keep our business up and running and get this movie out into the public. when it came to the crucial moment when a threat came out from what was called the gop at the time, threatening audiences who would go to the movie theaters, the movie theaters came to us, one by one, over the course of a very short period of time. we were completely surprised by it. and announced that they would not carry the movie. at that point in time we had no alternative but to not proceed with the theatrical release on the 25th of december and that's all we did. >> so you have not caved. >> we have not caved. we have not given in. we have persevered and we have not backed down. we have -- we have always had every desire to have the american public see this movie. >> why not release it online in some form or the other? video on demand? >> there are a number of options open to us and we have considered those and [ inaudible ] as it stands right n

plus, we also will be bringing you new developments in the sony cyberattack. all of that, still to come. people with type 2 diabetes come from all walks of life. if you have high blood sugar, ask your doctor about farxiga. it's a different kind of medicine that works by removing some sugar from your body. along with diet and exercise, farxiga helps lower blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. with one pill a day, farxiga helps lower your a1c. and, although it's not a weight-loss or blood-pressure drug, farxiga may help you lose weight and may even lower blood pressure when used with certain diabetes medicines. do not take if allergic to farxiga or its ingredients. symptoms of a serious allergic reaction include rash, swelling or difficulty breathing or swallowing. if you have any of these symptoms, stop taking farxiga and seek medical help right away. do not take farxiga if you have severe kidney problems, are on dialysis, or have bladder cancer. tell your doctor right away if you have blood or red color in your urine or pain while you urinate. farxiga ca

. >>> new development joefrs ni mn that high-profile sony pictures cyberattack. north korea says it's not to blame and is calling for a joint investigation with the u.s. that, despite hard evidence the regime is guilty of breaching security. and whether or not that entertainment giant pulled in by pulling the plug on that controversial movie. >> i wish they'd spoken to me first. i would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you're intimidated. >> we have not caved. we have not given in. we have persevered. we have not backed down. >> we will get more reaction from congressman patrick hen on the subcommittee in congress. >>> a new era for u.s./cuba relations. not everyone is celebrating. congressman balart on cuban dictator castro. >>> plus, a christmas message from pastor joel olsteen. >> negative, mad at your neighbor, mad at yourself, guilty. we've got to shake it off. say no, i'm good on that. >> to have gratitude. that's an important part of looking at what's right, not what's wrong. >> plus, potential candidates are starting to line up for a shot

they conduct the cyberattacks against overseas and enemy states, says jang se-yul. he's a north korean defector and independently trying to crumble an agency nearly impossible to chase. bureau 121, a shadow number of unknown number of agents placed in countries armed the world. jang believes there are approximately 1800 of them and says the agent ts themselves don't know how many exist. we can't verify jang's claims about the shadow group but he says he's obtained from a current operative hundreds of financial files, hacks from south korean banks complete with names and other bank account details. >> is the cyberwar the real war of america? the world has the wrong view of the north korean state, he says. with that incorrect world view, north korea was able to increase its ability to launch cyberattacks. south korea learned the hard way. banks across the country last year were paralyzed. atms paralyzed for days. media outlets went dark, servers jammed or wiped. north korea denied it was a source of a hack. south korea beefed up its own cyberforces declaring the onlin

one topic sure to come up of course, the sony cyberattack. in fact the fbi blames the attack on north korea which caused sony to cancel the christmas day release of the movie "the interview." the white house has acknowledged that publicly. some republicans think it is time for the president to respond more forcefully to the rogue north korean regime. with cuba and obama care. leland vittert at the white house with the full menu. hi, leland. >> reporter: a lot on the president's plate before leaves. we expect the fbi to issue a formal statement blaming the north koreans for the hacking in the next couple of hours. keep in mind over the past couple of days the white house has been saying an awful lot but largely sitting on their hands. we have also learned that at the behest of sony, american officials looked at a rough cut of this movie that included the ending sequence where the character that for prays kim young sign the north korean leader dice -- kim jong-un. they gave it their blessing. very interesting. the once unknown movie at the cent

unthinkable scenes from overseas, a cyberattack impacting hollywood.rs of what the season is all about. here now our "friday rewind." >> i'm incredibly blessed finally to have the freedom to resume a positive and constructive life. >> we want to see greater freedom, greater prosperity, greater opportunity for ordinary cubans. >> the could bean people aren't any more free today than they were yesterday. >> we have an armed predator holding hostages. >> these were decent people going about their ordinary lives. it's about as decent a thing as anyone can do to go and grab a cup of coffee before the working day is fully started. >> this act of terror angers and shakes all people of conscience and we condemn it in the strongest terms possible. >>> you can do big things if you set the stage in a campaign and then move forward. >> if jeb has all the money and the whole bush network which is massively powerful, it's going to take one conservative to challenge him. >> i don't know if the hacking is because of our movie definitively or not. >> the movie itself i

the cyberattack is more than just sony's problem. >> reporter: the title of the latest james bond film "specter" was announced just this month at a red carpet month. >> we spent two years getting it together and there has been so much hard work and effort. >> reporter: sony officials say an early version of the screenplay is one of the thousands of documents hackers stole in the latest massive cyberattack against the american company. >> this is not a problem related to any particular company, a global problem. >> reporter: this is just the latest problem for sony after hackers invaded computers at the entertainment arm on november 24th. that leak, sensitive and embar rasing information, including executives e-mails about sony actors and others including president barack obama. >> sony is in big trouble. this is hollywood's edward snowden moment. what is a problem with that, we don't know what is coming next. >> reporter: the production company is worried anyone with the screen may may try to publish it. the script is protected by copyright laws and they will take all necessary steps t

north korea is not the first state to be accused of cyberattacks. earlier this year the department of justice indicted five officers in china's military for economic espionage against american companies. now in an unique eternal its reported that the u.s. is speaking china's help in north korean threats. last year, tens of millions of credit card numbers were stolen from the retailer target servers after a major security breach. other institutions, jp morgan chase, home depot. even the u.s. posal service has all been victims of digital attacks in the past. cyber crime costs the internet in north korea is experiencing severe technical problems. one computer security expert in the u.s. describes the north korean system as totally down. when are governments, allies, and defenders of private business, when do governments seek protection of private entities as part of their own interests and why. we'll look at the action and reaction of those who pick the locks on sony's electronic front doors. joining us, ceo of global cyber risk, a cyber risk managemen

we had tens of billions of property stolen over the past years alone from cyberattack.et when the house of representatives passed a cybersharing bill in april of 2013, the congressman from hollywood and the president of the united states said, no, we don't want to do that.here were the american infrastructure, they were unprepared to help us pass laws, which would have helped a company like sony be further along in developing their own securities, such that we can keep american property and american people safe. >> i want to circle back to china in a moment, but let's talk about north korea. what immediate direct punishment should the u.s. impose on north korea and kim jung-un? >> well, the president should already have put them back on the terrorist list, designated terrorist state. he should immediately get our folks at nsa prepared and ramped up and ready to execute whatever mission he determines is appropriate given the information that the fbi and the department of homeland security and our nsa develops. all of those things, we have a cybercommand that is designed

list of state sponsors of terrorism as the administration plans a vigorous response to the sony cyberattack. here's julianna goldman. >> well, look. >> in an interview with cnn, president obama said north korea's attack on sony pictures is not an ago of cyberwarfare. >> i think it was an act of cybervand lism, that was very costly, very expensive. we take it very seriously. we will respond proportionally as i said. >> a senior administration official tells cbs news that the appropriate response to a cyberattack is not always a countercybereffort. in addition to bolstering digital defences, the officials said aides are putting together a package of options that includes diplomat eck and economic measures. the u.s. believes the north koreans are using infrastructure and assets in other countries to stage their cyberattack. the administration has reached out to a number of nations including china for help identifying and disrupting those assets. >> officials are also exploring additional economic sanctions that includes targeting north korea's elite. similar to sanctions imposed in russia wher

this is the first time he's spoken publicly about this cyberattack.k to fareed about that and he's responding to president obama's remark that sony made a mistake in yanking the film. in this accident... because there was no accident. volvo's most advanced accident avoidance systems ever. the future of safety, from the company that has always brought you the future of safety. give the gift of volvo this season and we'll give you your first month's payment on us. dad,thank you mom for said this oftprotecting my future.you. thank you for being my hero and my dad. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance could be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. >>> not only did president obama say sony made a mistake canceling the premiere of its film "the interview" but he said sony should have done this before making that final call. >> i am sympathetic that sony as a private company was worried

asking china for help in dialing with cyberattacks like the sony pictures problem.atest development and a live report for you. year, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our angie's list app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪ until we discovered k-y yours & mine. this one feels amazing for me, this one is fantastic for her. yeah. and when they combine it opens up a whole new door for us. i've come to clean your pool. what pool? [ female announcer ] k-y yours & mine. keep life sexy. >>> two new york police officer shot and killed in broad daylight inside their patrol car. we're learning more about what prompted that attack. >>> the u.s. asked china for help with the crippling cyberattack on sony while north korea denies it had anything to do with it. >>> also ahead, a bumpy road o

. >>> the real scope of the massive cyberattack on sony pictures is still unraveling. new this morning, the screenplay to one of the most anticipated movies of next year. and now the hackers are promising a, quote, christmas gift. joe fryer reports. >> reporter: james bond already has a new villain and his next film isn't even out yet. like the scene from the last bond movie sky fall, hackers have attacked. >> can someone tell me how he got into our system? >> reporter: an early version of the screenplay for the next 007 film spectre, still in production, was stolen by hackers. in a statement, ion productions says it is concerned that third parties who have received the

. >> cyberattacks. if you're stealing something, you don't want to advertise it and there's been loads of property stolen. for the companies, that gives them the ability to not acknowledge it. they don't want to publicize it because it shows they are vulnerable. this attack has been public.

if north korea really wants to help, it can compensate sony for the damages the cyberattack caused. > it's a charlie brown christmas. call it the little tree that could. a new celebration after a controversial start. >>> it was a cloudy day and cold day but it was a dry day. we'll have another day like that tomorrow. but we are tracking wet weather for your holiday week straight ahead. >>> some montgomery county police officers opened their wallets to make sure families have a happy holiday. the police department hosted an annual shop with a cop. each family got a total of $1,000 to spend however they wanted. it's the department's way of giving back to the community. this comes even though the police department lost half of its force to layoffs in november. >>> a motorcycle club from new york comes to down with two suvs stuffed with toys. the group highlanders america usually sends donations to a hospital if manhattan but this year they came to children's hospital of philadelphia because one of their friends has a child being treated here with brain cancer. >> i have been doing this f

. >>> how should north korea respond to the cyberattack. can the government protect businesses and the public? >>> two police officers shot an killed in new york city this weekend, adding more tension to an already stressed city. >> they were quite simply assassinated. >> targeted for the uniform. and for the responsibility they embraced to keep the people of this city safe. >> we'll have all the latest. >>> president obama ends our cold war policy against cuba. >> this entire policy shift announced today is based on an illusion, on a lie. >> not everyone is happy. i will be joined by florida senator and responsible presidential contender, marco rubio. >>> i'm chuck todd. joining me are msnbc's chris matthews, former bush white house political director, sarah fegan. former democratic governor of new mexico, bill richardson and news columnist, john nolte. welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >>> good morning. in a moment, i will be joined by the lead lawyer for sony pictures to discuss the aftermath of the north korea cyberattack on son

now to the cyberattack on sony. the sackers are now taunting the fbi.tly they are calling investigators idiots and north korea is issuing a bold message of its own to the u.s. >> tonight north korea is firing back after the u.s. publicly accused the secretive nation of coordinating the cyberattack that crippled movie giant sony. a spokesman claiming president obama himself work traited the attack and threatening repercussions targeting the white thousands, the pentagon and all of mainland usa if the u.s. does not agree to a joint investigation. this as president obama downplayed the cyberattack. >> it was an act of cyber vandalism that was very costly and very expensive. >> and now the u.s. is reaching out to china for help reining in the north koreans. meanwhile sony's hackers are apparently undaunted. they released another message this weekend. this one is taunting the fbi. and it is linked to this youtube video "you are an idiot" the hollywood reporter could not verify the authenticity, but thisy say the message which abc news did not receive was sim

that upset north korean movies and inspired a cyberattack on the company. before leaving on his vacation, mr. obama had promised a proportional response for the cyberattack. >>> many people unwrapped a sony consul game for christmas. if you tried to hook it up yopp line, you probably got a lump of coal. thousands of people reported problems. a gang of hackers took credit for being christmas grinchs. a group called lizard squad claimed credit saying they overwhelmed the users with fake user traffic. this caps off a rough holiday season for sony following the cyberattack over the release of "the interview." >>> tonight a search is under way for an escaped inmate from monterey jail. freddie swanson. officials say he escaped a medium security rehab area of the jail by climbing into a ventilation duct, punching through a window and jumping off the roof. he was arrested last week for drugs and weapons charges. he is 5'9", about 160 pounds with brown eyes and hair. he is caucasian. if you see him or have information, call 911. >>> down in los angeles county, stron

they expected cyberattacks make be something to hit the pentagon or financial markets or critical u.sinfrastructure but to pull hollywood studios e-mails and have a devastating impact on a hollywood studio and hit a core american principle like freedom of speech wasn't in a lot of the play books so there isn't really a developed response plan sitting on a shelf somewhere that they can pull down and say this is what we're going to do. all of the options here for the united states are very very tricky including retaliation in full cyber war fashion against the north koreans because united states company versus a lot more at stakes here than north korean industry does. >> just thinking. let me come back to you on the idea that diplomatically they're going to reach out across asia and in particular to the chinese to consult on what they should do with north korea. am i right in suggesting that in the past china has to an extend stood by or shielded north corr korea and if you were going to do anything to that country you'd have to get the chinese first and this may be a precursor to somet

. >> translator: cyberattack capability is much more dangerous than nuclear weapons because often it's hard to find the attackers and low cost and effort, north korea can cause an incredible impact on the society, politically, economically, and militarily. >> so let's dig deeper into this topic with cnn's will ripley in tokyo. it sounds like a bad movie but it's dangerous. tell us more about this bureau 121. >> reporter: it's all too real, carol. i was in north korea a few months ago and i can tell you how remarkable it is that this country is able to pull together the funds to train and supply this group of 1800 technical wizards plugged from the elite. they can barely scrape together enough food and even in that capital city where they don't have enough electricity to keep the lights on 24 hours, they somehow manage to keep this group fully powered and fully supplied so that they can basically conduct these cyberattacks. this is the first kind of attack they've conducted on the united states but they've credited south korean broadcasters with this similar tactic. with the u.s. being

what they did was very serious, what you don't want to happen is a cyberattack on the u.s. government or intelligence agencies or the pentagon. so there should be a response, i suspect that sanctions will be on the table, some kind of biting sanctions like banking sanctions, derivitive sanctions, because we've got economic sanctions all across the board on technology, military equipment, agriculture. but there has to be a response. i was surprised that north korea had that capability. i was there with the chairman of google two years ago, and they barely seemed to understand the internet. they barely seemed to have viable computer force, but they sure fooled everybody. if they are the conclusive perpetrator, then there has to be a response. lou: governor, we thank you very much for being with us, ambassador, i could go through your list of titles bill richardson for minutes here. i'll just say ambassador richardson, great to see you again, thank you for joining us. >> you can call me bill, lou, good to be on your show. lou: thank you so much. ambassador bill richardson. on

what is the white house's response on the cyberattack? >> reporter: so far they're saying a lot from the past couple days in the white house but largely sitting on their hands despite what is reported conclusive evidence north korea is behind this. this put this movie, known as "the interview," at the center of what the white house calls a major national security matter. still though, they are pulling their punches. >> before we start to publicly speculating about a response it's appropriate that we allow the investigation to move forward. sophisticated actors, when they carry out actions like this, are often times, but not always, but often seeking to provoke a response from the united states of america. they may believe a response from us in one fashion or another would be advantageous to them. >> reporter: we have also learned from senior officials here, that there was members of the united states delegation that have watched this movie at the behest of sownany, the rough cut, if you will, that included the ending which was successful

will the cyberattack on sony impact other films and other studios? david is the chief film critic of new york magazine who i get to sit next to now. it's a pleasure meeting you. thank you so much. i'm total fan of your work. so i had heard you were saying you were kicking yourself for turning down the opportunity to see this film last week. >> i was supposed to see it last week. i was going to the premiere tonight, which i thought would be a lot more fun and i -- >> that was bold. >> i wrote my pr contact yesterday and i said so we're still on plus one? and he said no. i believe was his exact quote. >> do you think that this is about the threat, which is really what makes this so different from other hacks that remember 9/11 threat to movie goers or is it more about the business? >> well, i mean, it's about both. nobody wants -- first of all, there's a lot of business going on in the holiday movie season and no multiplex is going to want to play "the interview" if people are not just going to not see "the interview" but also not see "annie" and "into

also ahead, north korea vowing more sieb cyberattacks on the u. what the u.s.sident says about that, just ahead. ♪ [ female announcer ] you've tried to forget your hepatitis c. but you shouldn't forget this. hepatitis c is a serious disease. left untreated, it can lead to liver damage and potentially liver cancer. but you haven't been forgotten. there's never been a better time to rethink your hep c. go to hepchope.com to register for more information. then talk to your doctor about scientific advances that may help you move on from hepatitis c. >>> welcome back to cnn live coverage. i'm natalie allen. our top story is the new york police department boosting security after two of its officers were shot and killed in an ambush this weekend. police also looking at all the social media posts made by the killer and investigating anyone who made comments on his post that could be perceived as threats. >>> i man has been arrested in france after police say he rammed his car into a crowd of pedestrians, injuring at least 12. it happened in dijon, france. witnesses say

asked specifically if that is a counterattack, a cyberattack, the president would not say. he did say that he felt that sony made a mistake pulling down the film. he wished that sony had talked to him beforehand when the president was asked if north korea had any assistance from any other countries, the president said that there were no indications that north korea was helped by any other countries in the attack. he said that we're better off and in better position than in a long time. he described the presidency going into the fourth quarter. on cuba the president said he would not be visiting cuba any time soon. he said there will be train strains in the relationship with cuba, but change has to happen can cuba, it has to, or the economy doesn't work. he said he's not going to support the keyston keystone ex oil po pipeline. let's go to libby casey at capitol hill. libby, the president declaring cyber war on north korea. what is the reaction? >> well, david, i mean, this was to some degree expected. because the fbi had come out earlier today directly linking the cyberatta

lou: the cybersecurity company norse is in charge of the investigation of the cyberattack but investigation indicates the attack was executed by a combination of one disgruntled former sony employee and five professional hackers employed by cybercriminals and pirates. security analysts are split whether norse or the fbi is right. the federal government could have access to information private companies don't and perhaps vice versa. >>> the obama administration is denying a report it's proposing a prisoner swap with iran in exchange for a former u.s. marine. the attorney for former marine said the united states sought his release through a prisoner exchange. the u.s. state department spokesman says not true. he was arrested more than three years ago in iran, convicted of spying for the cia, a charge his relatives and the u.s. government denies. >>> we're coming right back. stay with us. >>> new york's mayor bill de blasio meets privately with police union leaders. wait a minute. private? then why do we been it? we'll ta . lou: new york city mayor de blasio met with the heads of police unions

he spoke to abc earlier and talked about the cyberattack. >> the cyberattack is very serious. we are investigating it. we are taking it seriously. we will be vigilant. if we see something that we, think is serious and credible, then we will alert the public. for now, by recommendation, my recommendation would be people go to the movies. >> this is before sony made the announcement. is this a mod now for blackmailers or terrorists? >> absolutely. and remember, this is only the entertainment part of the business, the economy. think abut this sort of attack on a bank. or a brokerage. where, you know, the lifeblood of eat can me works. i am not a cyberterrorism expert. i don't know how, how extensi extensively they can. sony is a major corporation. they had the unusual kind of protections in place. if they can diet to sony. it sure looks they can do it to anybody. >> to both of your points. the hackers leaked embarrassing e-mails, a last stars, from executives. issued. they went further. they said the world will be full of fear. remember the 11th of september, 2001. we recommend y

so there's rampant speculation that north korea orchestrated the cyberattack on sony to take revenge.ing that they are directly involved. we all suspect they were. >> reporter: if sony suspects anything, they're not saying it publicly. a spokesman acknowledged growing speculation but would only say the investigation is ongoing. this professor says to understand why sony may be hesitant to point the finger at north korea, you need to know the geopolitics at play. do you think any japanese lawmakers would ask sony not to criticize north korea? >> maybe. >> reporter: north korea still maintains this unofficial embassy in tokyo, while the nations have no formal diplomatic ties, pyongyang does have some influence through political and business back channels. >> they want to stop the movie. >> reporter: while north korea may seem distant to most of the world, its military routinely launches projectiles into the sea of japan. pyongyang also admitted to kidnapping japanese citizens in the '70s and '80s, forcing the abductees to train north korean spies. >> the abductee issue is extremely poli

does it set a precedent for future cyberattacks?this no different than any other type of terrorist attack. i think it's important for the u.s. government and the private sector to work together in terms of how we respond to this. but from a terrorist perspective, when you're using violence to enforce actions and influence people, we can't cave to those types of demands. >> we can't cave, but we did cave. that's why so many in hollywood are outraged by this. >> sony is not the u.s. government. can we equate what's happening here with the u.s. caving? or sony, which is just a big corporation, watching its bottom line, doesn't want to have a threat on its hands. what would you, would you have recommended that they pull the plug on this? >> i don't want to criticize sewny. i'm not saying that they caved. i'm saying that as, as a citizenry, this type of attack has been going on for a long time. we're hearing about this one at sony now. it is not the first time we've seen attacks by nation states we have to come up with a strong policy as