With the gradual advancement in technology and the Internet, the need to automate most processes in a company is becoming more of a necessity than an option. The benefits of automation are ever increasing and helping the companies to save on extra expenses. However, its adoption lead to the increase in cyber crimes and attacks, where hackers steal information from companies and dump them on the internet or sell it. Due to the nature of these attacks, no one has an idea of when or who will be targeting them. Hence, large and mid-sized companies invest heavily on securing their data by hiring info-security companies. Despite the efforts, there is always a loophole in these security systems which provide hackers the chance of penetrating the system. Sometimes, hackers undertake the act as a way of exposing loopholes in the system while others have a reason behind their action. The paper looks into one of the corporate attacks and the reason behind the hack then discuss whether it was justifiable.
In the year 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment made the headlines when hackers attacked the company and dumped personal emails, employees’ information, and executive salaries to the internet (Peterson, 2014). The attack was a retaliation by the Guardians of Peace, a hacking group. The group demanded Sony to pull out its film, The Interview, from premiering or else they would launch terror attacks towards all the cinemas, which will screen the movie (Seal, 2015). The movie in question was about a North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, who was a dictator and the opposition wanted to assassinate him. The United States intervened into the matter and ordered Sony to adhere to the threats for the sake of its citizens. Heeding this advice, Sony canceled all premiere cinemas and opted to make digital releases and limited theatrical releases. Despite the threat, the movie received great reviews and generated a lot of revenue, which was a benefit for the company Sony (Seal, 2015). In a way, it provided free marketing since most of the people bought or rented the movie to see what it was all about.
According to the reports and assessment made by Sony, the hack seems to have begun earlier in the year, and the company’s infosec technicians did not discover its presence within the network. They knew of its existence in November 2014 and as per their investigation, the group had downloaded more than 100 terabytes of Sony’s data (Elkind, 2015). This attack was conducted mainly through malware, Server Message Block, which installs a listening implant, proxy tool, backdoor, destructive target cleaning, and hard drive tool. Hackers who use this worm seek to regain repeat entry to extract more information. In the end, they might choose to delete the information and delete any evidence or choose to exit without any commission. The Guardians of Peace opted to send a message to Sony by halting all operations by its employees. They recorded a message, which was on a loop whenever anyone logged into their Sony account. They began dumping data such as emails and scripts of upcoming movies randomly until December 2014 (Elkind, 2015).
One can describe the hack on Sony Pictures as cyber terrorism as the hackers opted to threaten the company by bombing the theaters, which were to premiere The Interview. However, Sony knew about the malware after the threat, implying that the movie triggered the group to expose it paths. Hence, the hack was merely a silent attack towards Sony without the need to expose them. It would be correct to state that Sony lacked a proper cyber security team if the group copied more than 100 terabytes of data. The discovery was possible after the Guardians of Peace brought forth their threats. However, people continued to blame Sony for their slow response towards the threat despite launching its cleaning tool, Wiper. The tool erases all data from Sony’s servers in a bid to clean up any malware continued in the remaining files. The continued dumping of data was due to the executives’ resilience to adhere to the hackers’ warnings. They knew how big the premiere of The Interview would be and could not risk canceling the events. Apart from that, they continued to state that the hack was in control, and the hackers did not have information on the company.
Despite the efforts of the FBI and FireEye, a contracted security company by Sony, to track the hackers, personal information of its employees surfaced on the internet (Boorstin, 2015). For a month, the headlines only focused on Sony and the data dumps released randomly. The hack destroyed most of the computers in Sony’s headquarters though the FBI was in a position to locate the source in North Korea. In their report, the hacking group was from North Korea as per the links found. To support the claim, the FBI noted the threat towards the movie as a motive made by North Koreans. Earlier in the year, the North Korean officials expressed their concerns about the movie to the Unites Nations stating that its production will be an undisguised sponsoring of terrorism and spike a war between the countries.
As per the hack’s nature, it would be hard to pinpoint when it took place. Sony failed to play its part of securing the information and conducting a proper assessment of its servers. Norse Corp, a small intelligence firm, noted laxity in the InfoSec department when they went to pitch their services to Sony on the fateful day of the attack (Elkind, 2015). The security detail for Sony was poor, and no one seemed to care to check on the visitors. According to Norse’s chief technology officer and co-founder, Tommy Stiansen, the premises lacked proper protocols on authorization and guidance towards the different offices. There were various windows of opportunity for a hacker to penetrate the system from the reception to the infosec department. At the time, the department did not have any technician watching over the room. Hence, it would be quite easy to conduct an attack on the company, without any hindrance or obstruction. The offices only became busy once the attack became viral and people reported the matter to the technicians.
In conclusion, Sony should invest heavily in protecting its servers from future attacks. Since their in-house department seems incompetent, they ought to seek services from established data security companies. They should ensure proper protocols in its premises and authorization to all of its departments. Hacking continues to be a global issue, which is hard to eliminate as new methods sprout on a daily basis. Companies ought to take proper precautions towards securing their data and implement the latest technology.
References
Boorstin, J. (2015, November 24). The Sony Hack: One Year Later. Retrieved from CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/24/the-sony-hack-one-year-later.html
Elkind, P. (2015, July 1). Sony Hack. Retrieved from Fortune.com: http://fortune.com/sony-hack-part-1/
Pagliery, J. (2014, December 24). What Caused Sony Hack: What We Know Now. Retrieved from CNN Money: http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/24/technology/security/sony-hack-facts/
Peterson, A. (2014, December 18). The Sony Pictures Hack, Explained. Retrieved from Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/12/18/the-sony-pictures-hack-explained/
Seal, M. (2015, February). An Exclusive Look At Sony's Hacking Saga. Retrieved from Vanity Fair: http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/02/sony-hacking-seth-rogen-evan-goldberg
