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Sony Hackers Release Personal Info Of Movie Stars
Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Demand ‘The Interview’ not be released
The hackers responsible for crippling Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer system have released personal information of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars and demanded that a controversial film involving a plot to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un not be released, various media outlets have reported.
On Tuesday morning, Reuters reporters Lisa Richwine and Jim Finkle said that the group known as Guardians of Peace (GOP) has for the first time publically called upon the movie studio to cancel the upcoming release of “The Interview,” a comedy in which two TV journalists are recruited by the CIA to assassinate the North Korean leader.
According to Richwine and Finkle, the group posted a letter to a file-sharing website on Monday asking Sony to “stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!” The letter was signed by GOP, the same group that claimed responsibility for a cyberattack campaign against Sony Pictures that started back on November 24.
Unnamed sources close to the investigation of the Sony hacking have reportedly told Reuters that North Korea is a principal suspect in the attacks, which have crippled the film studio’s computer systems and have also resulted in employees and their families being threatened. A North Korean diplomat has denied his country’s involvement, the news organization said, despite previously referring to “The Interview” as “an act of war.”
The hackers have also released what is believed to be contact information for Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, as well as the aliases used by several Hollywood actors and actresses while traveling secretly, according to Nick Allen of The Telegraph. Daniel Craig, Natalie Portman, Tobey Maguire and Sarah Michelle Gellar were among those who had their pseudonyms leaked by the hackers, he noted.
Allen said that the new leak was “the latest embarrassing tranche of information posted online by the Guardians of Peace,” and that the latest Sony Pictures documents “also included research on how popular individual movie stars are in different countries.” The group also posted a message saying, “You, Sony and FBI, cannot find us.”
The ongoing investigation also led to the discovery of threats sent by the group to Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton, Chairman Amy Pascal and other executives on November 21, three days before the attacks, said Mashable’s Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai and Christina Warren. An apparently unread email discovered in Pascal’s account warned that the hackers would cause “great damage” and that Sony would be “bombarded” unless the group received “monetary compensation.”
“The hackers signed the email as ‘God’sApstls,’ a phrase that was also found inside some of the malware used in the attack on Nov. 24, which wiped many of Sony’s computer systems,” said Franceschi-Bicchierai and Warren, adding that the hackers “used what appears to be a throwaway Gmail address” and that the email may help explain “the chilling message that appeared on some Sony employees’ computers” and “made references to a previous, unheeded warning.”
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Source: http://www.redorbit.com/news/technology/1113295242/sony-hackers-release-personal-info-of-movie-stars-120914/
