North Korea may have hired foreigners to attack Sony, says FBI

Country lacks the capability for some of the more sophisticated parts of the attack, and so might have outsourced it

Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s dictator, and the subject of the spoof Sony film (Reuters)

US investigators think that North Korea may have hired foreign help for its alleged attack on Sony Pictures, according to reports.

While many experts have cast doubt on the US’s claims that North Korea was behind the attack, the FBI says that the country is its main suspect.

But the country lacks the capability to conduct parts of the campaign, and so American investigators are looking into whether North Korea outsourced the attack by paying hackers outside of the country, Reuters reported.

The hack began in late November and crippled Sony’s computers for weeks. It is thought to be in response to Sony’s film The Interview, which depicts characters attempting to kill North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

North Korea has continued to deny that it was behind the attack, while still expressing its disapproval of the The Interview and the US in general. Last week, an unidentified spokesman compared Barack Obama to a monkey in a forest.