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The NYT reports that in the aftermath of the crippling online attack against Sony last month, internal documents have been leaked containing the pre-bonus annual salaries of Sony's senior executives. A spreadsheet containing the salaries of more than 6,000 Sony Pictures employees has been posted on Pastebin, the anonymous Internet posting site, that includes the company’s top executives including 17 senior executives who earn more than $1 million a year sending "a ripple of dread across Hollywood to Washington". Tom Kellermann says that unlike stealth attacks from China and Russia, Sony’s hackers not only aimed to steal data, but also to send a clear message. “This was like a home invasion where after taking the family jewels the hackers set the house ablaze."
Although large attacks on companies are increasingly common, this one has played out like one of Sony’s own thrillers, with macabre images on computer screens of studio executives’ severed heads. Although the studio is exploring multiple explanations, one theory involves North Korea and that the attack could be retribution from North Korea for a coming Sony comedy about an assassination attempt on that country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. Sony plans to release “The Interview,” an R-rated comedy about two American journalists who are recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to kill Mr. Kim. A spokesman for North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the film — apparently after seeing a trailer — “the most undisguised terrorism and a war action" adding that the film would invite “a strong and merciless countermeasure.” The destructive attack at Sony mirrors similar attacks last year on computers inside South Korea that paralyzed the computer networks at three major South Korean banks and two of the country’s largest broadcasters. Those attacks were traced back to computer addresses inside China, though many suspected that hackers inside China were working on behalf of North Korea, retaliating against South Korea for conducting military exercises with the United States, and for supporting recent American-led sanctions against the north. “In 2015 hackers will destroy systems not just for activism, but also for counter-incident response,” concludes Kellermann. Sony is moving ahead with the release of the comedy regardless.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by ikanreed on Wednesday December 03 2014, @04:52PM
Posting salary information. How is that even remotely like arson?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 03 2014, @05:00PM
I am trying to figure that out as well..
In the large company I work in I can guess +/- 10000 what most people make. It is all published in the internal guidelines. If you get past a particular level in most companies you have to file it with the sec which is open to any investor looking for the info. If you are gov or union employee you can usually get it down to the penny they make per hour.
Though if it ends up being NK I am sure Sony will not be too hard to convince to help out other countries in hacks that compromise NK. Probably going as far as providing full source listings and internal docs. I am not sure I would want to piss off a company like that. They are deeply embedded in the whole supply chain of consumer electronics.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday December 03 2014, @05:17PM
Well, if women are now defining 3 seconds of eye-contact as "rape," and a tap on their shoulder as "sexual battery," then this should come as no surprise.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Wednesday December 03 2014, @05:37PM
No one actually does this.
(Score: 2) by jimshatt on Wednesday December 03 2014, @08:31PM
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday December 03 2014, @11:34PM
At least one person must have. Comes up on yahoo answers, which is the barometer I use to gauge the average human.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by hoochiecoochieman on Wednesday December 03 2014, @05:35PM
Because it set their guilty consciences on fire.
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday December 03 2014, @06:22PM
I think they are referring to stealing the data/films then wiping the hard drives. It was a pretty malicious attack all things considered.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday December 03 2014, @07:11PM
They do have backups, don't they? Well, don't they?
(Score: 4, Funny) by WillR on Wednesday December 03 2014, @07:44PM
(Score: 5, Funny) by Freeman on Wednesday December 03 2014, @08:26PM
Yep, it's called "Pirate Bay".
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday December 04 2014, @06:31AM
While moderated funny, I can easily obtain 30 GB damn-near-perfect bit-2-bit images of pretty much anything on BluRay.
Considering that the pirates would have at most removed the extraneous crap that marketing included and forced you to watch, I think they are the most efficient backup service possibly for Sony. A little bit of contemporary spit and polish, and it's back at Costco as a new and improved version with all new interactive content that can't be pirated *ever* again.
I'm thinking Sony owes some people a fruit basket or too. Maybe even one of those expensive Hickory Farms numbers.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 04 2014, @07:34AM
Because deep down, the executives class know what they're doing is wrong, or know that everyone will think it is. Another five or ten years of crap like this and the public will be burning their houses down and hanging them from traffic lights.