More or less everyone should be aware of the recent series of hack attacks on Sony of late. The hacks have left Sony reeling and might not be at an end. The one interesting point that no one is sure of, yet, is whodunit?
Well, no one is sure in a manner of speaking. A hacking group known as Guardians of Peace (GOP) appear to be responsible, but who they are and exactly what they want is a mystery.It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks, or months, for Sony. If you are interested in the recent PSN DDoS attacks then you can read our post about it here.
Let’s start at the beginning, it’s a very good place to start, with a roundup of the story so far.
Tomorrow, tomorrow…
Just over a week ago it was reported by SC Magazine that Sony had been breached and several films due to be released were stolen and put online.
The films included Fury, Annie, Still Alice, Mr. Turner and To Write Love On Her Arms.
Further to this Sony Pictures Entertainment had their screens invaded by a skull and a message threatening to release company secrets if some mysterious demands weren’t met – we’ll get back to this later.
At this early stage no one had taken responsibility for the hack and accusations started flying.
North Korea quickly became implicated due to the imminent release of The Interview: a film about the assassination of Kim Jong-Un that NK had already called a “wanton act of terrorism” and threatened “merciless countermeasures” if it wasn’t cancelled.
Alongside the films a dump of personal data was also stolen from Sony’s network. 47,000 sets to be more specific: these included details of Hollywood stars and Sony employee’s, current, former and freelance.
“Righteous Deed”
NK would later deny the hacking attempt but praise the “supporters and sympathisers” that it believes are responsible for the “righteous deed”.
Sony has stayed fairly quiet throughout and they certainly haven’t withdrawn The Interview from being released later in December.
They have offered identity theft protection to current employee’s potentially affected by the data breach. Whilst it’s great to see them be proactive they didn’t offer the service to former employees, much to their chagrin, and are being blamed by said former employee’s for not knowing “how to keep data secure”.
Location, location, location
A new piece in the puzzle shows that the hack could have originated from a five star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand.
Gizmodo reports that “experts are not ruling out the possibility that the leak was carried out remotely and only taking advantage of the open network.”
Not only this but threats have been sent to Sony employees asking them to “Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don’t want to suffer damage. If you don’t, not only you but your family will be in danger.” Reported by The Register.
Whether they genuinely are the “supporters and sympathisers” of NK or just nasty opportunists isn’t clear but either way it’s a horrible situation for Sony employees to be in.
This story will continue to develop and there have already been threats of more to come accompanied by #GOP.
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Who do you think is responsible? Will Sony still release The Interview? Will we ever really know whodunit?