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Post by Admin on Jan 2, 2015 22:44:10 GMT
President Obama has previously said that North Korea would face a "proportional response" as a result of its alleged involvement in the big hack that hit Sony Pictures this past November. And that first wave of the response has arrived. Said attack took out Sony's systems and networks, and it also resulted in the leaking out of the company's financial information, emails, a few of Sony Pictures' future feature films, some film scripts, and plenty of other data. It was, as we now know, the first major reaction to controversial film The Interview, and both it and subsequent threats were successful at keeping the movie out of a number of theaters late December. (Although the film did go on to enjoy some success being distributed digitally, in addition to a much smaller movie theater run.) According to a new press release issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury today, Obama has officially authorized more sanctions against the country for its "numerous provocations," which includes the cyber-attack itself as well as threats made against "movie theaters and moviegoers." "Today's actions are driven by our commitment to hold North Korea accountable for its destructive and destabilizing conduct. Even as the FBI continues its investigation into the cyber-attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, these steps underscore that we will employ a broad set of tools to defend U.S. businesses and citizens, and to respond to attempts to undermine our values or threaten the national security of the United States," said Jacob J. Lew, Secretary of the Treasury, in a statement. The sanctions affect three North Korean entities—the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation, and Korea Tangun Trading Corporation—as well as 10 individuals named in Obama's executive order "for their status as officials of the North Korean government." The affected entities and individuals now denied access to the U.S. financial system, a measure that builds on top of existing sanctions the U.S. has already put into place against North Korea. While those named in the executive order aren't necessarily behind the Sony Pictures cyberattack, White House officials told the BBC that the move was designed to deter any future attacks. "We take seriously North Korea's attack that aimed to create destructive financial effects on a U.S. company and to threaten artists and other individuals with the goal of restricting their right to free expression," reads a statement from the the White House, issued Friday. "As the President has said, our response to North Korea's attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment will be proportional, and will take place at a time and in a manner of our choosing. Today's actions are the first aspect of our response."
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Post by Admin on Jan 3, 2015 22:50:33 GMT
Eric Lempel, vice president of Sony Network Entertainment, announced that all PlayStation Plus members who were active on Christmas Day and were subsequently frustrated by the attack on Sony’s servers will be granted a five-day extension of their PS Plus membership to compensate for the days lost. In addition, Sony will announce a 10% discount later this month on the PlayStation Store to all its consumers, regardless of whether they had a PS Plus subscription or not, as a thank you to all the PSN members for their patience and for sticking around through these trying times. The Christmas Day “distributed denial-of-service” (DDoS) attack left both consoles’ online operations defunct. The DDoS method works by sending a barrage of traffic to overload the servers, hence denying customers access to the servers. Links relating this attack to Sony’s release of the controversial movie “The Interview” are still speculation, with the North Korean government denying any involvement. Meanwhile, the comedy that parodies North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un has since gone viral. After allegedly taking down Sony’s PlayStation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, one of the hackers from the collective “Lizard Squad” has spoken out, revealing his face in an interview with UK’s Sky News. The interview with the alleged Lizard Squad member, a Finland-based man using the alias “Ryan,” was conducted via Skype. It can be viewed at the bottom of the page.
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Post by Admin on Jan 5, 2015 22:36:03 GMT
North Korea has furiously denounced the United States for imposing sanctions in retaliation for the Pyongyang regime’s alleged cyber-attack on Sony Pictures. North Korea’s foreign ministry reiterated that it did not have any role in the breach of tens of thousands of confidential Sony emails and business files and accused the US of “groundlessly” stirring up hostility towards Pyongyang. He said the new sanctions would not weaken the country’s 1.2 million-strong military. “The policy persistently pursued by the US to stifle the DPRK [North Korea], groundlessly stirring up bad blood towards it, will only harden its will and resolution to defend the sovereignty of the country,” North’s state-run KCNA news agency quoted the unnamed spokesman as saying on Sunday. On Friday, the US sanctioned 10 North Korean government officials and three organisations, including Pyongyang’s primary intelligence agency and state-run arms dealer, in what the White House described as an opening move in the response towards the Sony cyber-attack. It was the first time the US has imposed sanctions on another nation in direct retaliation for hacking an American company. Barack Obama also warned that the US was considering whether to put the authoritarian regime back on its list of state sponsors of terrorism. North Korea expressed fury over The Interview, a Sony comedy about a fictional CIA plot to kill Kim Jong-un, slamming it as an “act of terror”. It denied hacking Sony, but called the act a “righteous deed”. There have been doubts in the cyber community about the extent of North Korea’s involvement in the hacking. Many experts have said it is possible that hackers or even Sony insiders could be the culprits, and questioned how the FBI could point the finger so conclusively. American officials portrayed the sanctions as a swift, decisive response to North Korean behavior that they said had gone far over the line. Never before has the U.S. imposed sanctions on another nation in direct retaliation for a cyberattack on an American company. There have been doubts in the cyber community, however, about the extent of North Korea's involvement. Many experts have said it's possible that hackers or even Sony insiders could be the culprits, and questioned how the FBI can point the finger so conclusively. The 10 North Koreans singled out for sanctions didn't necessarily have anything to do with the attack on Sony, senior U.S. officials said. Anyone who works for or helps North Korea's government is now fair game, especially North Korea's defense sector and spying operations, they said.
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Post by Admin on Jan 6, 2015 22:38:20 GMT
Sony Corp Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai on Monday praised employees and partners of the company's Hollywood movie studio for standing up to "extortionist efforts" of hackers who attacked Sony Pictures Entertainment. In his first public comments on the massive cyberattack, which the U.S. government has blamed on North Korea, Hirai said current and former employees of the studio were "the victims of one of the most vicious and malicious cyberattacks we have known in recent history." The attack came as the company prepared to release The Interview, a comedy about a fictional plot to assassinate North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un. It debilitated Sony Pictures' computer network in November and led to the online leaks of unreleased movies and embarrassing emails. "Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are … lifelines of Sony and our entertainment business," Hirai said during a presentation at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. He also thanked those who had seen the movie. He did not take questions from reporters. Sony initially cancelled the release of The Interview after hackers threatened theatres. Following criticism from U.S. President Barack Obama and Hollywood celebrities, it released the film, but although cinemas and pay TV services are showing it, Sony has yet to recoup the up to $88 million US it spent on marketing and production. In addition to the cyberattack, Sony has also been grappling with weak sales at its consumer electronics division, particularly smartphones, and is heading for its fifth net loss in six years. Sales of its PlayStation 4, however, have been a bright spot: Sony said sales of the video game consoles exceeded 18.5 million units as of Jan. 4, up from 13.5 million at the end of October, showing strong holiday demand. Analysts said the sales figures were better than expected — Macquarie Research analyst Damian Thong had forecast sales of around 17.5 million. The PS4's performance was especially strong as Microsoft's rival console, the XBox One, was being sold at big discounts in November. At CES, Sony showcased a new line-up of high definition TVs and said it would start selling a stainless steel version of its wearable SmartWatch 3 from February. The company did not make major announcements on its Xperia smartphones, which have been lagging Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd in sales and are facing increasing pressure from Chinese rivals including Xiaomi.
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Post by Admin on Feb 5, 2015 22:42:51 GMT
Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal's announcement that she would step down from her job at the studio came less than two months after thousands of her personal, often controversial emails leaked online. A group of hackers self-identifying as the Guardians of Peace sent the contents of Pascal's inbox to the media in December, and many outlets proceeded to publish email exchanges that proved damaging to the executive's reputation. Perhaps the most damning reveal was a racially insensitive back-and-forth between Pascal and high-powered producer Scott Rudin. Before heading to a November 2013 fundraising event for President Obama hosted by DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg, Pascal fretted to Rudin about what to ask the president at the "stupid" event. "Should I ask him if he liked DJANGO?” Pascal asked, referring to "Django Unchained," Quentin Tarantino's slavery-themed western. "12 YEARS," Rudin responded, citing another movie about slavery, "12 Years a Slave." “Or the butler. Or think like a man? [sic]” Pascal continued, referring to movies starring predominantly African Americans. Shortly after the emails were made public, Pascal and Rudin issued apologies and Pascal set up a metting with Al Sharpton. Known in Hollywood for his acid tongue, Rudin was one of Pascal's most frequent correspondents. The two exchanged fiery messages regarding potential Sony projects, including a "Cleopatra" movie starring Angelina Jolie and a fraught Steve Jobs biopic. The Jobs movie would be the pair's undoing, as they disagreed about the movie's budget and leading men. Unable to come to terms on who would play the Apple co-founder, Rudin took the sought-after project to Universal Pictures in November, leaving Pascal feeling as if she had made a major blunder.
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