A new round of leaked Sony emails revealed executives have been aware of a security breach in the company’s systems since February.
Communications obtained by Gawker from Courtney Schaberg, the studio’s VP of content protection, detailed a compromised server.
“An SPE system may have been obtained by an unauthorized party, who then may have uploaded malware,” Schaberg wrote in an email dated February 12, 2014. Staffers addressed on the email, including Sony chief counsel Leah Weil, were told “the investigation is ongoing.”
Schaberg followed up her note with confirmation that server data was indeed taken — from SpiritWORLD, a third party company subcontracted by Sony to store innumerable documents relating to finance, distribution and more.
Sony has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Thursday saw a barrage of new developments and damage control in relation to the hack. First, studio chief Amy Pascal and producer Scott Rudin issued apologies for mocking President Barack Obama in a racially-charged email chain about the President’s possible favorite movies.
Shortly thereafter, actor Kevin Hart blasted the studio for labeling him a “whore” in another email chain, for reportedly seeking additional compensation to promote one of his films on social media.
Most disturbing, a Bloomberg report said more than three dozen Sony employee and family medical records are contained in the leaked information.
In terms of the studios’ internal and FBI probes, an individual familiar with the situation told TheWrap a new theory has been floating: if North Korea is involved in the breach, as has been speculated, the country had assistance from within the company.