Sony Pictures Under Massive Hack Attack

Sony Pictures is under a massive attack by a computer hacker – or a group – calling itself #GOP, rendering much of the company’s computer systems useless, Deadline reports. The attackers threaten the company to expose information about it – apparently something Sony does not want to see the light of day – if their demands are not met. There is no word about what the demands could be – there is probably someone at Sony who knows.

The hackers left the following message on the computers of the media company:

Hacked By #GOP

Warning:

We’ve already wasned you, and this is just a beggining.
We continue till our request be met.
We’ve obtained all your Internal data, Including your secrets and top secrets.
If you don’t obey us, we’ll release data shown below to the world.
Determine what will you do till November the 24th, 11:00 PM (GMT)

The message is followed by a few links to ZIP files on a few websites not working at the moment, which contain information the company would allegedly not like to be published at all. The attack doesn’t just target the computers in Sony’s offices, but there were reports about similar messages to have been posted on a few of Sony Pictures’ Twitter feeds, accusing Michael Lynton (CEO of Sony Entertainment Inc.) of being a criminal.

The hackers did not reveal what kind of sensitive information about Sony they might have, and neither have they divulged the reason for the attack. The message speaks of this being “just the beginning”, and of some requests that need to be met for the attack to stop. The hackers – #GOP, which is not likely to stand for the Republican party, and neither for Gross Operating Profit – have given the company until 11 PM to obey. The deadline has passed, and there is no word about any further actions against the company.

Could this be a diversion to distract attention from another, sneakier attack? Or will there be other things to follow?