Hacking a company's computer systems as a form of protest against corporate greed is one thing. Threatening the company's employees is another.
The massive cyber attack that rendered Sony Pictures' internal computer systems useless has taken a hair-raising turn of events, with hackers claiming responsibility for the attacks sending another message to Sony staff threatening to harm them and their families if they do not join their cause.
The message purportedly from GOP, which stands for Guardians of Peace, was obtained by Variety. It seems to have been written by someone for whom English is not a native language.
"Many things beyond imagination will happen at many places of the world. Our agents find themselves act in necessary places," the email reads. "Please sign your name to object the false of the company at the email address below if you don't want to suffer damage. If you don't, not only you but your family will be in danger."
Employees were ordered to turn off their mobile devices when Sony received the message, Variety reports.
"It's really crazy and scary," says one Sony Pictures employee.
Investigators, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, say they are aware of "threatening emails that have been received by some employees at Sony Pictures Entertainment."
"We continue to investigate this matter in order to identify the person or group responsible," says FBI spokesperson Joshua Campbell.
The threat is the latest move against Sony by hackers purporting to be behind the attack, which was discovered on Nov. 24.
Sony Pictures employees at its Culver City and New York City offices were greeted by a neon red skull on their computer screens with a message that says "Hacked by #GOP." The hackers threatened that it would release Sony's "secrets" if the company did not give in to their demands, which weren't specified in the message.
Sony may have refused the hackers' demand, as the group shortly released to file-sharing websites troves of internal documents containing sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers, home addresses and salaries of thousands of Sony employees and four unreleased films, including the anticipated remake of Annie and Oscar hopefuls Mr. Turner and Still Alice.
"Removing Sony Pictures on earth is a very tiny work for our group, which is a worldwide organization," says the email, apparently written by the head of GOP. "And what we have done so far is only a small part of our future plan. It's your false if you think this crisis will be over after some time. All hope will leave you and Sony Pictures will collapse."
It is still unclear who the members of GOP are. In an email sent to CSO Online, members of the group say they are an "international organization including famous figures in the politics and society from several nations." They also say they are not related to any nation-state, although various media reports say Sony is pointing fingers at North Korea, particularly to a Pyongyang-backed hacker gang called Dark Seoul, which was responsible for the devastating cyber attack on South Korean banks and broadcasting companies in 2013.
Circumstantial evidence points to the North Korean regime, which has repeatedly complained about Sony Pictures' up-and-coming comedy film about the assassination of North Korea's supreme leader Kim Jong-Un. The movie, starring actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, has been called "an undisguised sponsoring of terrorism" and "an act of war" by Pyongyang representatives writing to the United Nations.
Moreover, investigators of FireEye's Mandiant unit, which was hired by Sony to clean up the mess the hackers left behind, reveal that the malware used to infiltrate Sony's network was written in Korean and bore heavy similarities to the Shamoon malware used by Dark Seoul to launch attacks in South Korea.
However, a diplomat from North Korea has explicitly denied that the regime is behind the Sony attack.
"Linking the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to the Sony hacking is another fabrication targeting the country," the diplomat says. "My country publicly declared that it would follow international norms banning hacking and piracy."
