The Sony Hack
The hack of the Sony Corporation late last year came suddenly and put the company on their knees and frustrated Sony customers for a vastly inconvenient amount of time. The cyber attack came soon after they announced the release of The Interview, a movie about an american TV show host securing an interview with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and exposing the North Korean government for how they shelter the country from the rest of the world. As news of the hack began to spread, many began to look for options as well as who exactly was behind such a well orchestrated attack.
Among many suspects, news websites and papers, specifically Business Insider, have narrowed their search to one person- North Korea’s General Kim Yong Chol. Businessinsider.com author Jeremy Bender wrote an article in early January that comprised of hard evidence that KYC (Kim Yong Chol) was indeed the man to blame for the Sony standstill. Through different appeals, relatively no logical fallacy, and ‘passes’ Toulmin logic classification.
Early in the piece, after Bender has introduced the announcement of KYC possibly being behind the attack, he somewhat makes an emotional appeal to the reader, stating, “Obama’s sanctions came five months after the sinking of the Cheonon, a South Korean Navy vessel sunk by a North Korean torpedo on March 26, 2010. The incident killed 46 South Korean sailors”. The deaths of those ‘innocent sailors’ gets the reader to immediately begin leaning toward the side against KYC and North Korea because of an order that took several lives. Throughout the article the author tries and successfully implicates neutrality on his part, only stating facts and allowing readers to decide what they want to do with those facts. Plenty of evidence, even dating back to 2010, is provided in the article, that is used to further prove KYC guilty of committing the hack.
The article lacks logical fallacy in almost every way in that it was so straightforward in its entirety. Bender could be accused of a ‘guilt by association’ category of fallacy because of the way KYC has operated in the past and his past motives and actions against other countries in the name of NK and Kim Jong Un. Begging the question can also be considered a problem with this piece however, as stated before, the writing and facts were as neutral and far from opinionated as possible using evidence and concrete facts to support his claim.
As with every story in this day and age credibility is an extremely important part of an argument, especially one that is as global as the Sony Hack. The author does indeed make an exciting claim- tracing an enormous effort back to one man in particular- however with the facts presented, it is difficult for any to go against what has been published plainly in black and white: KYC was the mastermind behind the hack. The main reason KYC has been targeted is also because of his involvement with NK leaders over the years, sitting at their right hand and taking care of their dirty work behind the scenes. The fact that the President of the United Stats was forced to sanction the Lieutenant General only strengthens the accusations against him, leaving little room for much argument.
The ‘hack heard ‘round the world’ is still one of the most surprising technological cyber crimes with in the last few years rocking a world dependent on a corporate giant like Sony. Many have written and speculated over the past few months about possible solutions to the hack and discovering the person or people behind it leaving space for all sorts of information, both accurate and inaccurate. Business Insider’s Jeremy Bender however, has it the nail on the head in his claim of Kim Yong Chol’s involvement in the ordering of the Sony Hack. Using news from the US government’s announcement of who they believed to be behind the attack, he brought up numerous points throughout the rest of the article to support his first statement. His appeals, little logical fallacy, and precise (Toulmin-esque) research and proof gives the article the credibility needed to support the targeting of the one person responsible for this large scale attack against Sony Corp.
