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Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

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Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#31
post #4

The North Korean theory seems silly. In fact, it's exactly what I might say publicly if I were Sony and I wanted to try and turn lemons (being hacked) into lemonade (free buzz about an upcoming movie). The movie Kim Jong-un doesn't want you to see! In the end, I doubt there was any hacking involved at all: a disgruntled employee leaked documents. Perhaps Sony forgot to disable someone's password after giving them the…

I doubt that Sony has ruled out the possibility of it being an inside job, or done with the help of someone who has knowledge of their network and systems, but it's still very possible this was the work of outsiders.

Unfortunately we'll probably be left guessing as to how this hack happened and how long it went on, since Sony is not likely to ever release that information even if they figure out the cause.

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#32

It's Sony Pictures Entertainment that got hacked, not Sony. They're completely separate companies, yet the media fails to recognize that. Very annoying and confusing, it's almost deliberately.

Gosh, someone should tell someone at Sony. They themselves draw no distinction.

Sony -- Script to Screen: http://youtu.be/4P4Wl1Ogg_g

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#33

haha funny shit on YC... they are promoting the wire like bitches.... I posted about sony being hacked 4 days ago when it was to actually happen... But wire does a report at it oh 1st on YC... this site is full of brats... /neveragain checking this site out. Shadoban me.thanks

I can see you

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#34
Many people suggest that startups not over-optimize on issues like security and performance when it's not their core business.

The same could be said of Sony: empathize a little with them. Sony Pictures pays a lot of creative people. Maybe they should have seen the hack coming, but like the PSN outage this story will be maybe a paragraph in a Wikipedia article years from now. Even one great film could be watched by people a century from now, and I respect that their priorities are around figuring out economically viable filmmaking, not I.T.

The film industry regards Sony Pictures as the major studio that still takes risks on edgy comedies and dramas. They are known to respect directors more than the other majors.

Gawker will surface their ridiculous PowerPoints which truthfully exist everywhere. Or journalists will scandalize the executive pay and severances, nevermind that Nick Denton's and Anna Wintour's paychecks and perks are probably far more offensive.

But I don't mean to engage in whataboutism. In fact I mean the opposite: Just because some tech companies care a lot about security doesn't mean everyone should.

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#35

It's Sony Pictures Entertainment that got hacked, not Sony. They're completely separate companies, yet the media fails to recognize that. Very annoying and confusing, it's almost deliberately.

> It's Sony Pictures Entertainment that got hacked, not Sony. They're completely separate companies, yet the media fails to recognize that.

Sony is a very large conglomerate: while it would be incorrect to say that, say, Sony Computer Entertainment (the subsidiary that runs Sony's video games operations) got hacked, Sony Pictures Entertainment is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Entertainment, Inc., which is itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation.[1] It's as much "Sony" as any of its other subsidiaries.

[1]: http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/aboutsonypictures.html

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#36

An article on The Hollywood Reporter has some more information on this, including perspectives from sources elsewhere within the industry: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sony-hack-studio-secur... "It's changing our business," says one producer of its impact on Hollywood. "From now on, money and time will be allocated by studios to deal with this full-time." ...as it should have been already, given how big and…

> "It's changing our business," says one producer of its impact on Hollywood. "From now on, money and time will be allocated by studios to deal with this full-time."

Shame that most of Sony's Finance and HR are blaming the IT department - so bloody typical!

"Everyone’s looking to the IT department to say, ‘How did you let this happen?'" said one employee in Sony Pictures’ finance department." http://fusion.net/story/31116/inside-sony-pictures-employees...

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#37

Many people suggest that startups not over-optimize on issues like security and performance when it's not their core business. The same could be said of Sony: empathize a little with them. Sony Pictures pays a lot of creative people. Maybe they should have seen the hack coming, but like the PSN outage this story will be maybe a paragraph in a Wikipedia article years from now. Even one great film could be watched by p…

[deleted]

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#38

Many people suggest that startups not over-optimize on issues like security and performance when it's not their core business. The same could be said of Sony: empathize a little with them. Sony Pictures pays a lot of creative people. Maybe they should have seen the hack coming, but like the PSN outage this story will be maybe a paragraph in a Wikipedia article years from now. Even one great film could be watched by p…

I empathize with them not at all. I know how much Sony pays their high level security folks, it's a laughable amount and there is no possible way they could retain anyone even remotely qualified for those roles. If you do your best and get hacked, I'll empathize. If you deprioritize security to an extreme degree and get hacked I won't feel sorry for you.

Re: Sony Got Hacked Hard: What We Know and Don't Know So Far

#40
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they did it on purpose it's even sillier. They may think that it would be cool to say they "got hacked by a state" especially if it's related to an upcoming movie about it, but to me it seems like amateur hour at Sony if they got hacked by North Korea , a country not exactly known for its advanced technology and high computer usage.

North Korea as a country might be behind the technological curve, but several reports indicate the the North Korean Army cyber warfare division is pretty well funded and advanced. There is a huge divide between the day to day realities of the average NK citizen and the realities of the upper echelons.

Who makes up the cyber-warfare division? If I traveled in time back to 1850 with a billion dollars worth of gold bullion, I couldn't hire a single black hat with it. So a few kids of the party elite get to go to nice schools abroad - where are the rest coming from?

Or does DPRK have a shit-hot education system in spite of literally other thing about the country being godawful and totally backwards? If so it's the first I've heard that.

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