SonyHack
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Sony sued for not preventing piracy of movie leaked in 2014 hack
The fall 2014 Sony megahack leaked a massive amount of internal documents and content, resulting in plenty of fallout. Even two years later, they company is still not off the hook. The film To Write Love On Her Arms was one of four movies released online in the colossal data dump, and its producers are suing Sony Pictures failing to safeguard it from piracy thereafter.
Sony reaches multi-million dollar settlement with ex-employees over hack
Nearly a year after being infiltrated and bullied by hacker group GOP (Guardians of Peace), Sony is still feeling the effects of the breach. One of the larger issues the company has had to contend with is former employees suing it claiming it didn't do enough to protect their data. According to a filing on Monday, those employees and Sony have come to an agreement. The multi-million dollar settlement includes a $2 million fund to reimburse victims that are part of the class action for any expenses they've incurred protecting themselves from identity theft as a result of the hack up to $1,000 each. Sony will also pay up to $10,000 per person for losses as a result of identity theft up to $2.5 million. Sony will also bear the costs of the suit including attorney's fees up to $3,490,000. The terms of the settlement still need to be approved by the court. [Image credit: AFP/Getty Images]
Sony hack 'caused' f-bombs to go out on British daytime TV
Did you know that the Sony hack, amongst other things, caused scores of British children to hear some salty language on TV? That's what the UK's telecommunications authority believes after the company showed the adults-only version of a classic film in the early afternoon. Sony-owned channel Movie Mix showed the Paul Newman courtroom drama The Verdict on December 14th, and in one scene, characters drop f-bombs as if they were candy wrappers. The excuse for such flagrant sweariness was that when Sony's servers were hacked, a nefarious type had "erased" the safe-for-daytime-viewing version of the flick, with the unedited version taking its place.
Somebody's already making a movie about the Sony hack
Mere months after a series of red lights began flashing in Sony's IT department, a film covering the event has already been greenlit. The Hollywood Reporter believes that a documentary about the studio-toppling event is to be helmed by the creators of Netflix's award-winning The Square, Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer. There's already a suggestion that the pair will discard the notion that North Korea was behind the attack, investigating the likelihood that this was, instead, an inside job. It's slightly fortunate for the duo, who were already researching a documentary concerning cyberattacks and digital warfare. The flick is still at an early stage of production and no studio has yet to agree to distribute it, but we'd think Sony would be a receptive host -- after all, they're certainly likely to make some money out of everyone's morbid curiosity.
WikiLeaks lets you search Sony's hacked emails (updated)
When a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace hacked Sony Pictures in late 2014, thousands of private emails and information about top executives, actors and Hollywood hotshots hit the 'net. The messages revealed pay discrepancies between male and female stars, and contained copies of films that hadn't yet seen release. Some of these emails contained racist and derogatory comments from Sony Pictures staff, including co-chair Amy Pascal, who consequently left the company in February. Now, all of these emails are available in searchable form on WikiLeaks. Anyone interested in digging through Sony Pictures' email archives can now search by specific term, sender, recipient, attached filename or email ID.
Sony spends $15 million on dealing with its cyberattack woes
Instead of announcing its financial results today, Sony had to merely issue a forecast for how it's fared in the last financial quarter. In case you've missed it, that's because it's dealing with the cyberattack that not only spilled the beans on much of Sony's movie business but also knocked out its accounting equipment. To that end, it's announced that it'll spend approximately $15 million this quarter to both investigate and recover from the cyberattack. (That's not to be confused with the $15 million in restitution it offered users last month for a separate security breach.) The company otherwise raised its earning forecast for the year, with net profits of $756 million made from October to December of last year. Sony isn't yet done restructuring, however. In its mobile business, it now plans to shed 2,100 jobs: a further 1,100 positions to cuts it previously announced last year.
Why North Korea's Sony hack made 'The Interview' required viewing
Congratulations, Guardians of Peace (and North Korea!) -- you've successfully prevented a "dangerous" Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy from getting released. But guess what? You've also made The Interview, which appeared to be just another slacker comedy from the Freaks and Geeks alums, vastly more important than it ever would have been on its own. That's what we in America call delicious irony. Sony, in a move President Barack Obama has called "a mistake," has vowed never to release the film in any form -- no VOD, no special digital download -- but it's only a matter of time until it's on every torrent and illegal video-streaming site on the web. And how long do you think it'll be until it makes its way into North Korea? You've won this battle, but you've also ignited a war against censorship that could end up dismantling your fascist control of information. Also, didn't you realize people always want what they can't have?
