> Does the US government really have much to gain from falsely claiming that North Korea is behind the attack?
Governments frequently benefit from drumming up fear against an external enemy because it justifies increased government power and control over the population which otherwise might not be tolerated. Blaming the Sony hack on North Korea creates a very tangible mental connection between cyber-war and terrorism. This makes agencies that violate the rights of citizens on the Internet seem like the good guys in the minds of many.
> it would be pretty embarrassing if it turns out that they're wrong.
No, it won't, because they'll always have plausible deniability in the form of "we have access to information that you don't"; whether they actually do or not is immaterial. Besides, it's not as if brazen lies really actually get punished, i.e. yellow cake.
Governments frequently benefit from drumming up fear against an external enemy because it justifies increased government power and control over the population which otherwise might not be tolerated. Blaming the Sony hack on North Korea creates a very tangible mental connection between cyber-war and terrorism. This makes agencies that violate the rights of citizens on the Internet seem like the good guys in the minds of many.
> it would be pretty embarrassing if it turns out that they're wrong.
No, it won't, because they'll always have plausible deniability in the form of "we have access to information that you don't"; whether they actually do or not is immaterial. Besides, it's not as if brazen lies really actually get punished, i.e. yellow cake.