N. Korean charged in 2014 Sony hack
LOS ANGELES -- A computer programmer working for the North Korean government has been charged with devastating cyberattacks that hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment and unleashed the WannaCry ransomware virus that infected computers in 150 countries and crippled parts of the British health care system, federal prosecutors said.
Park Jin Hyok, who is believed to be in North Korea, conspired to conduct a series of attacks that also stole $81 million from a bank in Bangladesh, according to charges unsealed Thursday in Los Angeles federal court. The U.S. believes he was working for a North Korean-sponsored hacking organization.
The 2014 Sony hack that led to the release of a trove of sensitive personal information about employees included four yet-to-be released Sony films, among them Annie, and one that was in theaters, the Brad Pitt film Fury, and cost the company tens of millions of dollars.
The FBI had long suspected North Korea was also behind last year's WannaCry cyberattack, which used malware to scramble data on hundreds of thousands of computers across the globe.
U.S. officials believe the Sony hack was retribution for The Interview, a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco in a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Nebraska cell-door error leads to fracas
TECUMSEH, Neb. -- The doors on 16 cells at a prison with a history of riots unexpectedly opened Friday, leading to one inmate being attacked and seriously injured and a fire set inside the prison, Nebraska prison officials said.
The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services said in a statement that the doors at Tecumseh State Correctional Institute are operated by a computerized system and that the cell doors were mistakenly opened about 10 a.m. Officials said the cause of the error is under investigation.
While inmates were ordered to stay in their cells, they left the cells anyway, entered the gallery and refused to return, officials said. One inmate was assaulted by one or more of the others and was seriously injured. The injured inmate was removed from the gallery and was treated, but officials didn't say whether the inmate was hospitalized. No prison employees were injured.
Prison staff used chemical agents to clear the gallery, but the inmates continued to resist and started a fire in one of the cells, the release said. The fire was contained to the one cell, and the prisoners were returned to their cells a short time later.
N.C. to fight federal election subpoena
RALEIGH, N.C. -- North Carolina's elections board agreed Friday to fight federal subpoenas seeking millions of voting documents and ballots, even after prosecutors delayed a quick deadline to fulfill their demands until early next year.
The State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement voted unanimously to direct state attorneys to work to block the subpoenas issued last week to the state board and local boards in 44 eastern counties.
U.S. Attorney Bobby Higdon in Raleigh, whose office issued the subpoenas, hasn't said specifically why immigration enforcement investigators working with a grand jury empaneled in Wilmington are seeking the information. Two weeks ago, Higdon announced charges against 19 non-U.S. citizens for illegal voting, of which more than half were indicted through a Wilmington grand jury.
The subpoenas ordered the documents, which the state board estimated would exceed 20 million pages, be provided by Sept. 25 at a time when election administrators prepared for the midterm elections.
Wildfire shuts section of California's I-5
SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOREST, Calif. -- A stretch of a major interstate near the California-Oregon border will remain closed through the weekend as crews try to tame a wildfire roaring along the roadway, forcing truckers and other motorists to take lengthy detours, officials said Friday.
The blaze that shut down 45 miles of Interstate 5 in California on Wednesday was still burning out of control in the rural area, said Denise Yergenson, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. It became a ghost road after fire turned hills on either side into walls of flame. Drivers fled in terror and several big-rigs burned.
It has destroyed thousands of trees -- some 70 feet tall -- that could fall onto the roadway, she said.
Officials on Sunday will re-evaluate whether to reopen the highway that traverses the entire West Coast from Mexico to Canada.
The Delta Fire had burned more than 34 square miles of timber and brush and prompted evacuation orders for scattered homes and buildings in three counties.
A Section on 09/08/2018