The Sony hacking incident explained in five answers

The Sony hacking incident explained in five answers
The Sony hacking incident explained in five answers
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The News Minute | December 12, 2014 | 09:52 pm IST 

The multi-million dollar production studio Sony Pictures' internal server was hacked last month by unknown parties. Since then, everyday there is a new shocking development that seems to be sinking the company further. But what exactly happened? And how?

Here is a list of 5 questions that explain the whole story and bring you up to speed:

1. What exactly happened in the beginning?

Sony Pictures Entertainment’s internal servers were hacked in early November by an anonymous group calling themselves #GOP or, the Guardians of Peace. This group claimed that they stole close to 100 TB of data from Sony, including some of its unreleased movies. The group then asked the production company to comply with their list of demands by the 24th of November, or they would release the data online. They consequently did release the films and other data online, as Sony refused to fulfill their demands.

2. What did they exactly steal? 

Apart from the scripts and films stolen, that included titles like Fury, Still Alice, Annie and Mr. Turner, which were all slated to release in 2015, GOP also stole employee information. This information included how much salary each employee, including the CEOs of the company were paid and also information about every employee’s family and medical history details. This data is usually only privy to the HR department. GOP also crossed the line by sending a threatening message that said that if their demands were not met, their families would be in danger.

( Image Source: Fury Facebook Page )

3. How is North Korea involved?

There were rumours that started the day after the hack, that Sony suspected North Korea to be behind the hacking. The reason for their suspicions was Sony’s film ‘The Interview’. The film is a comedy story about two American journalists who plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader. Although North Korea denies these allegations, which seem to be growing stronger by the day, the country does seem to be very happy about the hacking institute as they strongly opposed the release of ‘The Interview’.

( Image Source: The Interview Facebook Page )

4. What are GOP’s demands?

All of the demands put forth by GOP are still unknown, but the few that have been published are that the group demands Sony ‘to be equal’. It blames the company for giving unequal treatment to their employees, which has raised questions as to whether it was an insider's job. Another demand was that ‘The Interview’ not be released.

( Image Source: Still Alice Facebook Page )

5. What is happening now?

The latest reports suggest that the GOP released sensitive medical history information about employees who either have a serious illness like cancer, or employees with special needs children. This has truly shocked the world as it is highly private information, out there on the internet. Sony is investigating the hack along with the FBI and has so far not issued any significant official statement.

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