On Monday 24 November, 2014, Sony employees resumed to work to find out that their corporate network had been . The attackers took terabytes of private data, deleted the original copies from Sony computers, and left messages threatening to release the information if Sony didn’t comply with the attackers’ demands. Below is a picture of what appeared on Sony employees’ computer screens.
Sony struggled to recover their data for a while and at the same time, the hackers released bits of information on file sharing sites. Information include unreleased movies, private correspondence, employee performance data, etc. The released data have been causing problems for the company even apart from the obvious revenue loss. Data shows that Jennifer Lawrence was being paid a significantly lower salary than her male counterparts on American Hustle and also that of the 17 executives paid over a million dollars, only one was female. These sparked an outcry from feminists as can be expected.Then again, leaked emails exposed an executive who called Angelina Jolie a “minimally talented spoiled brat.” Another described actor Kevin Hart as a “whore.” Multiple Sony employees bashed the “formulaic” Adam Sandler films the company has produced while another set of executives made racist comments about US President, Barrack Obama’s choice of movies.
North Korea is being blamed for the attacks despite the hostile nation denying the allegations. Sony was about to release The Interview, a comedy a that depicts the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Also, forensic analysis has found that the methods used against Sony are similar to those used in a2013 attack on South Korean companies. Some security experts suspect those attacks were carried out by North Koreans operating from China.
In response, Sony has canceled the theatrical release of the movie but it now seems that Sony is looking for alternatives to release the movie (possibly online) after President Obama said canceling the release was a mistake.
