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Hackers demand Sony stop showing 'The Interview'

Sony has been the victim of a number of cyberattacks in recent weeks, and Monday night a group known as Guardians of Peace demanded the company stop showing 'The Interview,' a forthcoming fictional movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. 

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Nick Ut/AP
Sony Pictures Entertainment headquarters in Culver City, Calif. on Tuesday, Dec. 2.

The group that has claimed responsibility for hacking Sony Pictures released more internal documents Monday and demanded that the company stop showing its new movie "The Interview."

“Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the war,” the group calling itself GOP, or Guardians of Peace, said in a statement posted yesterday on the website Github. “You, Sony & FBI, cannot find us.” The group linked to a new set of files. GOP is apparently upset at the theme of "The Interview," a fictional movie about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un set to be released on Dec. 25.

The new trove of documents is the latest in a string of attacks against Sony that started on November 24, when a number the company's files were leaked online. The files included the salary of actors and personal information of 47,000 Sony employees. Five upcoming movies, "Fury," "Annie," "Mr. Turner," "Still Alice," and "To Write Love on Her Arms" were leaked online. 

Little is known about the hacking group Guardians of Peace. A few reporters have talked to supposed GOP representatives, who say the group is an international organization that isn't connected to North Korea. The authenticity of the sources aren't verified. Some speaking to The Verge said, "We Want equality. Sony doesn't. It's an upward battle." The person went on, "Sony doesn't lock their doors, physically, so we worked with other staff with similar interests to get in. Im sorry I can't say more, safety for our team is important."

North Korean officials have denied any part in the attack but called it "a righteous deed."

CBS News reports that the program that wiped Sony's computers was written in Korean and North Korea has been purportedly connected to three attacks that were previously claimed by unknown activist groups. One of the groups shares a server with Guardians of Peace.

This isn't the first time Sony has been the target of a high profile cyberattack. The company was hacked in May 2011 after it took legal action against George Hotz, who modified the PlayStation 3 video game console. LulzSec, a hacking group, broke into the Sony system and stole data on 24.6 million customers and took the network offline for 40 days. 

Sony and the FBI are working to find out who is behind the attack. Senior Sony staff will brief employees on the latest developments in the case and FBI will tell the staff about cybersecurity awareness on Dec. 10, according to Bloomberg. The FBI is working from a war room on the Culver City lot and is continuing to look into the attacks.

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