North Korea’s state-run news agency denied on Sunday that it was involved in a hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, but praised the cyber takedown as a “righteous deed.”
“The hacking into the Sony Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathisers with the (North) in response to its appeal,” the North’s top military body, the National Defence Commission, told the state-run KCNA news agency, according to the Agence France Presse.
The NDC rejected the media reports of its involvement as “false rumour” but went on to slam Sony for producing “The Interview,” a comedy about two journalists trying to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The statement called the film “abetting a terrorist act while hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership of the (North).”
The statement was the first clear denial from North Korea that it was involved in the attack on Sony. Previously, a spokesman for the communist country told the press to “wait and see” if it was involved in the hack, and at one point Pyongyang had warned of “merciless retaliation” over the film.
Sony has been suffering from an unprecedented cyber attack on its computers which have compromised sensitive business information about tens of thousands of individuals, including private passwords, salary information and business deals made at the studio. Much of that information has been leaked onto the Internet in recent days, in the wake of a total shutdown of the studio on the week of November 24.
The source of the attack is still unknown, and speculation has turned to North Korea because of the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy skewering the country.
As a result of the GOP hack, Franco’s “Interview” salary was revealed to be $6.5 million and Seth Rogen‘s salary was revelaed to be $8.4 million. Personal information about Sony employees was released to the public as a result of the cyber attack, and a new email on Friday threatened the safety of Sony staffers’ families.
11 Hollywood Hacker Movies: From an Angelina Jolie Stinker to a Potential Oscar Winner (Video)
"Hackers" (1995): It's only on the top of the list because of the name, since this cyberpunk adventure starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller and Matthew Lillard didn't exactly impress critics. It was, however, on the forefront of predicting a cyber crime wave that has finally hit Hollywood.
"The Net" (1995): The trailer tells viewers that "computer analyst Angela Bennett was just doing her job when she stumbled onto something she never should have seen." The same could be said about future Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, who was just doing her job by leading the cast of this terrible science fiction movie nobody should have seen. Still, people around the globe paid $110 million to see it in theaters.
"Antitrust" (2001): This Silicon Valley techno thriller earned "Cruel Intentions" star Ryan Phillippe his first million-dollar paycheck, which ended up being 1/18 of what the entire movie made in theaters. The critically panned MGM release followed a gifted computer programmer being given a dream job by a Bill Gates-like genius who will do whatever it takes to make sure his computer firm remains the most powerful in the world.
"Live Free or Die Hard" (2007): This worthy addition to the beloved Bruce Willis action franchise revolved around John McClane joining forces with a young hacker (Justin Long) to stop a cyber terrorist (Timothy Olyphant) from crippling Washington D.C. with his keyboard. Fortunately for America, the world's toughest cop was too old at that point to understand technology, so his fists won out in the end.
"The Matrix" (1999): Keanu Reeves' character in this sci-fi classic was a computer hacker before he was "the One," and the Wachowski siblings went ahead and ruined the franchise by completing the trilogy that never lived up to fans' expectations. But hey, remember the first time Neo dodged all those bullets in slow motion? Yeah. That was awesome.
"WarGames" (1983): Matthew Broderick proved in this Cold War thriller that hacking into your school's computer system to change your grades is a gateway activity that could lead to accidentally starting global thermal nuclear warfare. In his defense, this movie makes playing global nuclear warfare from your desktop computer look really fun.
"Swordfish" (2001): Long story short, Hugh Jackman plays a hacker hired by John Travolta to help him steal millions of dollars to pay Berry to show her breasts, or something like that.
"Firewall" (2006): Cyber criminals force Harrison Ford into robbing his own bank when they break into his home and hold his family hostage. It wasn't very good, but at that point in Ford's career, just about anything could have been considered a step up from "Hollywood Homicide."
"Blackhat" (2015): This movie hasn't hit theaters yet, but since the majority of movies about hackers aren't memorable for being good, here's to hoping director Michael Mann's will be. Chris Hemsworth stars as the sexiest hacker alive who is released from prison to help law enforcement catch a cyber criminal threatening to take down international financial markets.
"We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists" (2012): We've all read about Anonymous at some point or another -- the hackers united under a Guy Fawkes mask and a mission for truth -- and this documentary charts the organizations rise and evolution, while even unmasking a few members.
"The Internet's Own Boy" (2014): This documentary about hacker and Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz just landed on the short list of films competing in the Oscar race for Best Documentary Feature, and for good reason. It explores the computer prodigy's relationship with technology, and how its affecting our civil liberties.
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Sony is reeling from being hacked, but Hollywood has been producing stories around cyber crime for years. Here are 11 of the most memorable.
"Hackers" (1995): It's only on the top of the list because of the name, since this cyberpunk adventure starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller and Matthew Lillard didn't exactly impress critics. It was, however, on the forefront of predicting a cyber crime wave that has finally hit Hollywood.
