The hack at the entertainment company Sony has dominated the media for weeks and continues to capture our attention as speculation over who was responsible for the incident continues.
Whoever was behind the hack is certain to be satisfied with their efforts as Sony declared that it would be shelving its controversial film The Interview. The film which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen follows the journey of two TV presenters to North Korea; the presenters are then informed that they have been sent to assassinate Kim Jong-Un.
The principle request of the hackers was for this film to be dropped by Sony, it was this request that led American officials and the media to believe North Korea might be behind Sony’s misfortunes.
When the hack was first reported in the media suggestions that North Korea might have led the attack on Sony were largely dismissed. However, after the White House Spokesman, Josh Earnest, stated that the Whitehouse was treating the Sony hacking crisis as a ‘national security matter’ many began to speculate once more that the hack was the brain child of the North Korean government.
It was reported that back in June a foreign ministry spokesman stated that there would be ‘merciless’ retribution if the Interview was released and North Korean officials have since dubbed the hack a “righteous deed” .
There has been suggestions that the hack might stem from a department in North Korea’s General Reconnaissance Bureau however investigations such as these sometimes take years to complete and it is entirely conceivable that the exact culprit will never be identified.
With a lack of definitive information at their disposal the U.S government is struggling to find a suitable response to the hack. North Korea is a country that could not easily be affected by economic sanctions nor international outcry. Since the nation state has continued to deny its involvement it makes choosing a path of retaliation incredibly difficult for U.S officials.
What the Red carpet believes
The celebrity involvement in the hack continues to give the incident a high media profile, which many believe is probably playing into the hands of the perpetrators. Actors signed a petition demanding that the Interview be released as not doing so would mean accepting America’s failure to deal with the problem and would be giving into demands of terrorists.
George Clooney in particular has voiced his reservations at Sony’s decision stating in a recent interview that: “we have allowed North Korea to dictate content, and that is just insane.” Clooney was one of the celebrities affected by the attack, as emails surfaced which contained his frustrations over the success of his film The Monuments Men.
Angelina Jolie is another big name who has been mentioned in a series of email leaks with a movie producer stating that Jolie “was seriously out of her mind” in an email.
Hackers continue to threaten our Security
Concern over the hack increased when the hackers stated that they would attack cinemas in a similar fashion to that of 9/11; it seems whoever is behind the attack means serious business. It was this threat in particular that led Sony to decide to cancel the release of the Interview which was supposed to go ahead on Christmas Day.
The Sony breach continues to surprise the world media and Hollywood, and it is hard to predict what will happen next but either way it seems Sony has an uphill battle ahead. The hack is no longer just considered an attack on Sony; it has been seen as an attack on America and an attack on the freedom of speech.
Therefore the warning to other American businesses, in fact to businesses worldwide, could not be clearer: protect your information before it’s too late. Perhaps the only positive outcome of this hack is that it has raised the profile of cyber-attacks and shown businesses how valuable their information could be in the hands of perpetrators.
To find out more about how you can protect your data check out our blog post: Identity Theft: How to Protect Yourself and Your Organisation
If the Sony hacking crisis has taught us anything it’s that having your information stolen could have far worse consequences than your IT recovery plan could ever possibly imagine.
