You can make a comment on our facebook page. And finally, send an email. The president will be holding a News Conference this afternoon at 1 30 pm eastern time. It will be live on cspan. Obviously, this will be one of the areas he addresses. The front page of the wall street journal this morning for response ggles to hack. The u. S. Government is looking retaliate to north hacking of arent Sony Pictures, according to familiar with discussions u. S. Officials have evidence that could point to north korea as directing the attack. Officials are still investigating who is responsible. North korea has denied responsibility. One of the coauthors of this story is Devlin Barrett of the wall street journal. Mister barrett, how close is the u. S. White house to naming korea government is responsible . Guest they are pretty close. I think it will name her later today, and it would be pretty awkward if you didnt answer that question today he ddidnt answer that question today. So much of this has happened so fast. Much evidence is there . How much evidence have you seen any . Guest well, i am not an investigator. I just talked to people who do that kind of work. What i have been told is that is an increasing number of evidence that points to north korea. Of that is similarities hacks on his hacking south korean institutions that have happened before. There is also really where, at one t point, we were told that one of computers actually pinged back directly to a north korean computer. Theyre still trying to figure out exactly what that means. That is not normally how hacking would work. Part, you would essentially proxy servers servers and other places to discuss the trail but they incident where a to y computer talk to agree a north korean computer at that point. This essentially tells them korea was behind this. Host in your story this mister barrett, general dempsey is quoted. Could there potentially be a military response . Guest i think that is really unlikely. One thing that is really sony nating about the fact, in particular, is that the government has drilled and exercise all sorts of hacking that word response require some sort of world response. This is an Entertainment Company being embarrassed and pulling a movie. They are trying part of the discussions in government is is the appropriate response of that kind of action. They will take it seriously, pretty unhappy about it, and they want to discourage anybody else from doing it in the future. They t the same time, dont have some offtheshelf plan. About the Justice Department . Guest well, the Justice Department is investigating, principally through the fbi. They have an interesting to because many times these International Hacking investigations will take months, if not years, to piece together. They are basically putting what they have so far together in a you know, days maybe weeks, sort of. That creates its own challenges for them, in terms of how solid is the evidence. How sure theyre not misunderstanding what theyre saying. And they, too, a left for some interesting decisions. Host and finally, does this raise the profile of the Cyber Security command . Guest i think it does, but it also points towards the limitations of potential problems. I think this hack, in a weird puts hacking in general higher in the public consciousness. Of, you s also kind know it is just such an odd heck. Writes about ho hacking frequently, this is such an unusual set of facts that it is hard to know yet what sort of facts should be drawn from it. Host Devlin Barrett of the wall street journal. The front page story this morning. Thank you, sir. Guest thank you host a little bit more from his story Martin Dempsey u. S. He was concerned that to ders were leaning conclude that a nationstate was behind the attack. Made, nd if that call is it will be a moment to confronts that reality. If you want to join a conversation this morning 2027488001 for republicans. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488002 for independents. 2027488003 for outside the United States this morning. The sony tors view attempt to contact the north korean government as possibly implicating the government. It is possible somebody else using the een malware, which could have reached out to north korea on its own. The attacker creates a very for the Obama Administration, in part because such a breach is not the hacking scenario contemplated drills governments many and contingency planning. Eric is calling in from hyattsville, maryland. Eric, what you think about all this . Caller yes, good morning. Thank you for taking my call. Or angry , very mad against sony because we all know that the United States not bow to terrorists. Only the fact that the movie has been canceled is very, very ery, strong message to any in the rship who, future, would not like a movie start rica to just another cyber attack. My second point is this is our freedom of speech because this is what we are in america. We are who we are in america because we can say what we any fear of t retaliation. So now, sony, by canceling that movie, is sending a very, very strong message to terrorists. Host thank you, sir. Next up is paul. A republican in orlando. Caller hi, peter. Happy holidays to you. I think i should probably just hang up because that first caller, point for point, hit nail on the head. I wish that the white house to sony ve quietly gone and said have your premieres, we will have your back on this, security wise. Statement with the that, if indeed any 9 11 attacks are carried out on any of these theaters, we would hold north korea responsible. And we would consider it an act of war. Hey, peter, as a sidebar i have not heard the petersons call in in a long time while you are on. I hope youre doing well and i hope to have a happy holiday. Host you know, i appreciate that. I hope they are, as well. Maybe they hear that it will . Paul, would you have gone to the premier . Caller you know, i would have. Not because i thought it was but just to vie, stand wwith fellow americans and say we are not going to be intimidated by you guys. Were not going to allow you to free speech threaten oour free speech. Host thank you, sir. From the Financial Times this the cyber attack takes u. S. Into New Territory without rules of retaliation. Over the apparent victory sony, north korea has exposed one of the uncomfortable truths of Cyber Attacks governments have no clear idea how to respond. By indicating north koreas role in the attacks, the Obama Administration will find itself under pressure to react in a cyber world where the evidence is not always rocksolid. Where there are no clear rules of international behavior. And where the risks of elevation are fraught. Xenia in rockville, maryland. The independent line. Caller hi. About the sony hacking incident . Caller i think we should take a step back and make sure that these types of forms, we should make sure that korea is the one who actually do this. We should all take a step back out use we dont know who there might be making it look like it is north korea. Im really concerned about that. Host would you have pulled the movie if you are sony . Caller no, i would not. What is going o on, what youre basically you know everyone has validation in the threat. And i would not give anyone validation. Host thank you, maam. Only witter sony has itself to blame for what they said in the emails and allowing hacking. The front page of the post this morning north korea uncovers hollywoods hidden truth. The truth of the sony interview all films are t political. We aggressively sent to the especially rkets in asia and account for around 70 of the movie industrys profits. That the o say the point was inadvertently proves with perhaps the most of vocative kernel information that emerged during the disorienting past few days. In the middle of this world, the daily beast revealed the sony tions between entertainment chief executive who the state department, told him that the potential of actually moving the needle and north korea. Bruce bennett l, wrote to lynton i have been clear that the assassination i believe that a story that talks about the removal of the kim family regime, and the creation of a new government by the north korean people, will start some real thinking in korea and, i believe, in north once the dvd leaks to the north. Which it almost certainly well. And responded ck bruce, spoke to someone very senior in the state. You greed with everything have been saying. Everything. Ill speak to you soon. This is brian and maryland. The republican line. Caller yesterday at cspan, reading a commentator the news talking about the news. Comments that obamas on this topic was that he was congress to pass legislation, essentially helping cyber warfare. I dont know whether that quote was accurate. I dont mean to call on the conservative line and give obama a hard time. Does anybody else think that is kind of a dumb quote . Isnt cyber warfare are the illegal . Why do we need congress to go pass legislation . Why are we not just acting . Im sure there is already a body of law that would warrant whatever our reaction is going to be. That is my comment in question. Is in wilmington, delaware. A democrat. Caller hi. My comment is that i think that probably encountered liability issues. In fact, if the people who want to the film dont and people who wont come out to see it because of fear, then they will probably them in ase against terms of the financial injury. Likewise, the other people who dont go to the theater. Looks just dden, he like a a legal nightmare. That is my comment. Host and wild and wonderful the same lines t so, who here wants to step save d bond the dollars to and hold harmless if the theaters go ahead with the debut and something does happen . David in the newyork times a breakthrough in cuba comes as rises in north korea. Writes, no cyber attack on the u. S. Has provoked a national response. When banks and retailers have denial of service overwhelm a ch Computer System but do not permanently disable it, companies have been left to defend for themselves. But tony is different. The senior officials explain the reasons this attack was briefed to the president on an almost daily basis over the past week. The company is a company on american soil, the official said. And the second is the manner in data is being en used tto influence the actions their company and prevent a movie from being shown. But it is unclear what pain mister obama can inflict and to create some semblance of deterrence. Return Cyber Attacks are north le, but since the is such an unwired society, the targets are few and the for retaliation are vast. Has calcitrant leader who concluded that engagement with richer nations amounts to a suicide pact for the kim family dynasty. In charleston, west virginia. Brian, what you think about all this . The sony hacking case in the u. S. Response. Caller hey. I just think that this whole losing tons t sony of money because im not convinced there is a real threat. The department of Homeland Security said on wednesday that there is no legitimate threat. So i just think this is sony afraid of future hacks that will expose more dirty laundry. And cause them more loss of money. Host all right. Do think that if it is north korea there should be retaliation . Caller as far as retaliation goes, im not sure what the state department could do about it. But i know that aas far as sony goes, then there would have been no future loss for them to go ahead and release the movie all said and done u. S. Think that the government should just try to prevent these sort of things, instead of trying to retaliate the sort of renegade attacks. I dont think we can really to a real government. Host michael from new hampshire. A republican. Hi, michael. Caller yes, good morning, peter. That has been ing ongoing for now two years, of action r some type or a bill regarding the Cyber Security. Yet, the retailers are hit with debit g personal wwith information being stolen, issues regarding different among the private sector, but also within our own government. You might recall recently the today had an article about terrys embedded in our power grid. Im not sure how true that is. Party of t sector the Republican National committee was doing an essay on hillary clinton. They threatened cnn that they were not be allowed to partake in any of the debates. That is similar, in a way, i using as using cyber or some type of issues regarding i think i lost you. Host nope, we are still listening. Michael, are you there . From the Washington Times trying to are not fathom that the nation is in a multidimensional cyber war. After north koreas strategic architect, prompting the of an upcoming film with an estimated loss of 200 million in revenue loss alone, the ever existing Newt Gingrich with a tweet no one should get themselves. With the sony collapse, america has lost its first cyber war. Mitt romney recommended that sony released the film for free online and asked viewers to dollars to evil Research Ebola research. Of irate tinseltown stars joined the fray, accusing the studio of bowing to the mysterious hackers. Meanwhile, three classaction been filed e now against sony by employees after their personal information was capitalized. Once the hackers threatened an act of terrorism in the u. S. And ters, the white house lawmakers joined in and fired potshots. Revealing all cyber were with the cascade of aftershocks. Robert and palmdale, california. An independent, good morning to you. Good morning to you. I would like to express my about the sony actions, consider to be cowardly and kind of beyond reproach. With that being said, i think is another story here is not being told, and that is considering the fact states has, by and the greatest capacity electronic communication hacking and these things, it would be more interesting to see what is it that we are a broad and elsewhere against our opponents or call these other states. Doing over there because i think that would be a much more interesting story. If if i were to be dropped space and watch tv, be very shortly impressed that the United States is besieged by hacking from north korea, from china, from russia, from who knows where else. The truth is somewhat different. I dont think were kind of passive victims in all of this. My comment and e suggestion to maybe find somebody who knows something about this. Host next up is dark in covington, georgia. Caller hi, how are you doing . Some more ke to see those emails. There is racism in hollywood against the president , and i to take them ght down because i would like to see the rest of the emails and see what hollywood has to say about the president. That is the trouble with all of them the progressive whites like a black dont man. Thank you. I know, ck tweets in lets overreact. If north korea is at fault, them only elevates their some say there is little that can do to protect against a sophisticated cyber attack. There are very few companies that can withstand that kind of large assault, said rich, aan firms t with security securoisis in phoenix. Companies need to improvewhat theyre doing and security, i see it every day with companies i work with. Invest es also need to in identifying vulnerabilities on their networks and were quickly to address them. A ran ommends undertaking to review to ensure that outdated files, such as digital copies of all contracts and electronic conversations that occurred years ago, are no longer being stored in a corporate networks. There is a lot of stuff just sitting there waiting to be that kind of d for thing that is happening at sony right now, Mister Sanders said. He said the sony breach has in every ng up customer meeting that they have held since the stolen information began leaking out and making International Headlines earlier this month. Final paragraph most Companies Need to focus on the ability to detect tax quickly, aand limit them as fast as possible. Currently, the average amount of time it takes a comedy to breach is 200 to 230 days. That allows the attacker time a lot n the knowledge of knowledge and do a lot of damage. Omar is in atlanta. Omar you are on the washington journal. What are your thoughts . Caller yes, lets go back to the beginning. The interview was scheduled for release on december 25. The movie wasnt going to make that much money. Then suddenly, i think this is a hollywood thing in regards to promotion. Okay, you pull the movie. Then later on whether it is two weeks m now or from now they release the a long line u have of people coming to view the movie. Make much more money because of the controversy. But then you look at this kim jong un is no threat to us. He is meaningless. Now, you have elevated him to this grand thing that he is not. Now he o irrelevant, but becomes relevant in a very of way because, again, the man poses no threat to the United States. He means absolutely nothing, yet now the media has made him into this thing. You have seen it was saddam hussein, you have seen it with gadhafi. Have kim jongun. But at the same time, they are going to push this and push that this e point movie that wasnt going to make that much money during the holidays now is going to be next ckbuster within the week or two because of the controversy. And i think that is sad. Host nancy. New york. Democrat. What you think . Caller yes, can you hear me okay . Host we are listening. Caller okay. Basically, americas arrogance never ceases. I am no lover of north korea nor its leader; however, if jokes ant to make these film are or whatever, tthat is absolutely fine. To go out and make a movie leader is totally ridiculous, especially at a time in the world when everything is in total chaos. What could we expect . You look at Everything Everything that even 9 11 the United States has done something. This is totally ludicrous. Said what the heck are they doing . Leader of a nation, okay . Respect ct for him, no for his country host na