It gets worse for Sony: After crippling network, hackers upload personal mails of top execs

After sending threatening emails to Sony executives and releasing sales and IT information, hackers responsible for the breach of the Hollywood movie studio have now leveraged stolen data for harassment.

A new report by PC World says that emails of two top Sony executives have now been leaked online in order to further pressurise Sony to stop releasing the “movie of terrorism”, which shows the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The group of hackers, who call themselves ‘Guardians of Peace’, posted a message online that said, “We have already given our clear demand to the management
team of Sony, however, they have refused to accept. We are sending you our warning again.” The message was posted with the title “Gift of GOP for 4th day: Their Privacy.”

To show that it has indeed compromised the privacy of the company, the group has brought confidential data of two top Sony executives Amy Pascal and Stephen Mosko out in the open.

For what it’s worth, Amy Pascal had last week sent a memo assuring Sony employees that the company was working as hard as possible to get things back on track. GOP has uploaded emails of the two executives on torrent websites along with a password for everyone to see. Earlier this week, an attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment crippled the studio’s computer network and exposed sensitive data. The high-profile attack puts Sony in a vulnerable position as leaked information can potentially be used by fraudsters to harass the company for years.

According to PC World, the Microsoft Outlook mailbox contains thousands of messages sent by both executives over several months. Some of the messages include contact details for executives at other companies, business information, and personal messages to family members.

Apart from the FBI,  Sony has hired security firm FireEye and its Mandiant forensics unit to investigate the attack. Judging from the way things have unfolded, there could be more than one group involved in the
Sony attack. The message sent by GOP reads, ” We know nothing about the threatening email received by Sony staffers, but you should wisely judge by yourself why such things are happening and who is responsible for it.”

According to New York Times, investigators suspect that Sony’s attackers may have had help from at least one Sony employee, after studying samples of the malware found on Sony’s systems. However, they are legally bound not to speak about it.

According to The Verge, much of the evidence points at North Korea, as the attack apparently bears striking resemblance to previous North Korean attacks. While North Korean authorities have denied involvement, it said called the attack a “righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers.”