Sony Pictures is the victim of widespread attacks by hackers, leaving staff of the company logged out of their computers while the incidents undergo investigation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, computers used by the studio were attacked by a group of hackers that call themselves #GOP, or Guardians of Peace.
"We've obtained all your internal data including your secrets," the group said, adding that the data will be released to the world if the group's demands are not met.
It is not yet determined whether the demands of #GOP have already been forwarded to or already known by Sony Pictures.
"Sony Pictures Entertainment experienced a system disruption, which we are working diligently to resolve," said Jean Guerin, the spokesperson for Sony Pictures Entertainment.
The report on the hack attack on Sony Pictures comes one day after DerpTrolling, another group of hackers, claimed that it breached the security of Sony's PlayStation Network, obtaining and releasing the email addresses and corresponding passwords of the accounts of gamers. Sony, however, denied that such an incident occurred.
A source said that it is not clear whether the hackers were targeting Sony or Sony Pictures. However, what is clear is that employees of the studio are affected as they are forced to stay at the offices of Sony Pictures in New York and Los Angeles but without access to their computers.
Hemanshu Nigam, an Internet security expert, lauded Sony's swift decision to go offline once they found out about the hacking incident to prevent any further damage to their system.
Nigam also said that there is a possible connection to the reported breach of the PlayStation Network, adding that the claimed hack could have been a diversion.
The hackers, however, told The Verge through an e-mailed statement that they are looking for "equality," while suggesting that the attack that they carried out was made possible through the assistance of employees of the company.
The hackers called out Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Entertainment, through a tweet that referred to Lynton as a criminal.
One of the hackers, who goes by the name "Iena," sent a vague description of how the group carried out the attack.
"Sony doesn't lock their doors, physically, so we worked with other staff with similar interests to get in," lena wrote. "Im sorry I can't say more, safety for our team is important [sic]."
The data that the hackers could have extracted include non-threatening files such as promotional pictures and podcasts. However, it is entirely possible that the group was also able to acquire sensitive documents.
