Sony Pictures was forced to turn off all of its computer system, being unable to send and receive business communications, after a hacker – or a group of hackers – called #GOP has defaced its websites and attacked its internal network. Today the company’s computer system is still down, for the second day in a row, Nicole Pelroth of The New York Times writes.
Sony’s computers and websites – plus several Twitter accounts of some of its popular shows – were attacked on Monday by a group of hackers or a solitary one called #GOP. The acronym reportedly stands for “Guardians of Peace”. The attackers have threatened to unveil Sony’s internal secrets, including the best guarded ones, if their demands are not met until November 24th at 11 PM (GMT).Neither the demands, nor the nature of the secrets to be revealed are unknown at the moment. According to Sony, the problem was caused by a system disruption. It is clear that the attack was specifically directed toward Sony Pictures, as the computers of other parts of the corporation – Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Music and others – were not affected. But the employees of Sony Pictures were not able to access the company’s internal network today.
This is not the first time Sony becomes a target for a massive cyber attack. The company’s PlayStation Network was hacked back in 2011, leading to the exposure of the personal details – names, email addresses, PSN credentials, credit card numbers and others. The total cost of that cyber attack was estimated to reach $170 million, not counting the costs of the class action lawsuits that hit the company, seeking the amount of over $2 billion in damages. There is no word yet about the costs of the current attack, and neither about the extent and the nature of the damage caused by the attackers.
Some speculate that the attack was actually faked by Sony itself, seeking exposure and brand awareness, or even an advertising stunt that might mean a new, hacker-themed movie to be released by the company…