Gigglebit: Sony security breach blame game

17 Jan 2015

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.

The infamous hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment before Christmas saw five movies prematurely released to the internet, 47,000 worker documents published as well as compromising and embarrassing emails between executives.

The incident – believed to have been caused by North Korea’s umbrage at Hollywood’s depiction of Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un in The Interview – will go down in history as one of the biggest security breaches of all time.

Sony isn’t laughing and neither is the US Government, which is thought to have launched its own cyber attacks against North Korean infrastructure during the Christmas period

The truth is no one really yet has a conclusive answer around who is behind the attacks by a group calling itself Guardians of Peace. Some believe it was indeed North Korea while others believe it was an inside job involving disgruntled former employees.

While we wait some wags on the internet have come up with an ingenious FAQ game throwing conspiracy theories in every direction from the employee in the Sony gift shop to end users. Just refresh the page and random seemingly authoritative documents from security researchers outlining sources of the attack will be generated.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com