Late last November, Sony Pictures became victim to a hack that leaked extremely confidential information, and ultimately, executives resorted to using older BlackBerry handsets to keep their communications confidential during that time.
Sony brought in old BlackBerry phones
Sony’s executives had to communicate information regarding the leak through their old BlackBerry phones. They also had to bring in old machines to issue physical paychecks rather than transferring money through direct deposit.
Sony initially believed the issue was a minor inconvenience but still got in touch with the federal government as a precaution. Michael Lynton, the company’s Entertainment chief executive, admitted that it took about 24 to 36 hours for the depth of the problem to really sink in. At that time, the federal government and cyber-security team set up its own headquarters nearby. One week into the investigation, they suspected North Korea of the attack and eventually determined that Guardians of Peace took login credentials from system administrators and harvested computer data.
Investigators not sure if they blocked the hackers entirely
According to The Wall Street Journal, FireEye’s investigators are not entirely sure whether they completely blocked the hackers from Sony’s system. If the network remains secure, it may return in eight weeks. The same report also shows how Lynton acted outside the public eye. It was reported he was talking to Google when Sony initially announced it had no future plans to release The Interview. This led to criticisms from people who believed the company was caving to terrorist demands.
President Barack Obama even put his two cents in when he said, “We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing censorship here in the United States. If somebody is able to intimidate folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they start doing if they see a documentary they don’t like or news reports they don’t like. Or even worse, imagine if producers or distributors start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of someone whose sensibilities probably need to be offended. That’s not who we are. That’s not what America’s about.”
Last week, Sony’s PlayStation Network went down for a few days, which left many gamers frustrated.
