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Sony hackers invoke September 11 attacks in warning to 'The Interview' moviegoers
Sony hackers invoke September 11 attacks in warning to 'The Interview' moviegoers
(about 3 hours later)
Hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace made ominous threats Tuesday against movie theaters showing Sony Pictures' film "The Interview" that referred to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The group also released a trove of data files including about 8,000 emails from the inbox of Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton.
Sony Pictures has told cinema owners that they are free to cancel screenings of its forthcoming comedy The Interview, after the group responsible for a massive hack of the Hollywood studio threatened those theatres that chose to show the film.
The data dump was what the hackers called the beginning of a "Christmas gift." But GOP, as the group is known, included a message warning that people should stay away from places where "The Interview" will be shown, including an upcoming premiere. Invoking 9/11, it urged people to leave their homes if located near theaters showing the film.
The hacker group, which calls itself Guardians of Peace (GOP), posted a message on text sharing site Pastebin on Tuesday, invoking the 9/11 terrorist attacks as it warned cinemagoers to avoid seeing The Interview, and advised anyone who lives near to a cinema showing the film that they should leave their homes. “We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places The Interview be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to,” the message read.
The Department of Homeland Security said there was "no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theaters," but noted it was still analyzing the GOP messages. The warning did prompt law enforcement in New York and Los Angeles to address measures to ramp up security.
The Interview stars Seth Rogen and James Franco as television journalists, who secure an interview with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and are then asked by the CIA to assassinate him. The film is due to be released on Christmas Day in the US.
"The Interview" is a comedy in which Seth Rogen and James Franco star as television journalists involved in a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Its New York premiere is scheduled for Thursday at Manhattan's Landmark Sunshine, and is expected to hit theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. It premiered in Los Angeles last week.
At its Los Angeles premiere on 11 December, Mr Rogen publicly thanked Sony Pictures chairman Amy Pascal for “having the balls” to make the film at all. The studio chief has been personally embarrassed by the hacks, after multiple personal emails from Ms Pascal’s account were published online. The latest threat from the GOP comes a day after hackers leaked a scene from The Interview, depicting the death of the North Korean leader in a rocket attack.
Rogen and Franco pulled out of all media appearances Tuesday, canceling a Buzzfeed Q&A and Rogen's planned guest spot Thursday on "Late Night With Seth Meyers." The two stars had just appeared Monday on "Good Morning America" and Rogen guested on "The Colbert Report." A representative for Rogen said he had no comment. A spokeswoman for Franco didn't respond to queries Tuesday.
During the summer, the North Korean regime warned that the film’s release represented “an act of war” that would lead to “merciless” retaliation against the US. Although there is no firm evidence to connect North Korea to the hackers, it now seems clear that The Interview provided the GOP with a motive for its cyber-attack on Sony.
The FBI said it is aware of the threats and "continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate this matter." It declined to comment on whether North Korea or another country was behind the attack. Speculation about a North Korean link to the Sony hacking has centered on that country's angry denunciation of the film. Over the summer, North Korea warned that the film's release would be an "act of war that we will never tolerate." It said the US will face "merciless" retaliation.
On Tuesday, Mr Rogen and Mr Franco both cancelled all their upcoming media engagements in support of the film, including a Q&A with the website Buzzfeed, and an appearance by Mr Rogen on the late night chat-show, Late Night With Seth Meyers. On Monday the pair were interviewed on the popular ABC breakfast show, Good Morning America.
The New York Police Department, after coordinating with the FBI and Sony, plans to beef up security at the Manhattan premiere, said John Miller, the NYPD's top counterterrorism official.
A still from The Interview, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that there was “no credible intelligence to indicate an active plot against movie theatres,” while the FBI said it “continues to work collaboratively with our partners to investigate this matter.”
"Having read through the threat material myself, it's actually not crystal clear whether it's a cyber response that they are threatening or whether it's a physical attack," Miller said. "That's why we're continuing to evaluate the language of it, and also the source of it. I think our primary posture is going to be is going to have a police presence and a response capability that will reassure people who may have heard about this and have concerns."
In New York, where the film is expected to have its East Coast premiere on Thursday evening, NYPD counterterrorism chief John Miller told the Associated Press it was unclear whether the group was threatening another cyber-attack or a physical one. “I think our primary posture is going to be to have a police presence and a response capability that will reassure people who may have heard about this and have concerns,” he said.
Following a commission meeting earlier Tuesday, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said his department takes the hackers' threats "very seriously" and will be taking extra precautions during the holidays at theaters. Patrick Corcoran, spokesman for the National Association of Theater Owners, wouldn't comment on the threats.
On Tuesday the hackers also released a cache of some 8,000 emails from the account of Michael Lynton, the CEO of Sony Entertainment, describing its latest data dump as part of a “Christmas gift”. The Sony data breach is one of the largest in US corporate history. On Monday evening, two former Sony Pictures workers filed a lawsuit against the firm for failing to prevent the hack – and therefore the theft of personal and financial information from past and current employees – despite warnings that it was vulnerable to such an attack.
In their warning Tuesday, the hackers suggested Sony employees make contact via several disposable email addresses ending in yopmail.com. Frenchman Frederic Leroy, who started up the yopmail site in 2004, was surprised to learn the Sony hackers were using yopmail addresses. He said there was no way he could identify the users.
Meanwhile, human rights group Fighters for a Free North Korea has announced plans to airlift DVD copies of The Interview into the country by floating them over the border attached to hydrogen balloons. Thor Halvorssen, the philanthropist funding the initiative, told the Hollywood Reporter, “comedies are hands-down the most effective of counter-revolutionary devices.”
"I cannot see the identities of people using the address ... there is no name, no first name," he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. He said yopmail is used around the world but there are "hundreds and hundreds" of other disposable email sites.
Leroy, who lives in Barr, outside Strasbourg in eastern France, said he heard about the Sony hackers yesterday on the radio but knows nothing more. He said he has not been contacted by any authorities.
Since Sony Pictures was hacked by GOP late last month in one of the largest data breaches ever against an American company, everything from financial figures to salacious emails between top Sony executives has been dumped online.
Separately Tuesday, two former employees of Sony Pictures Entertainment sued the Culver City, California company for not preventing hackers from stealing nearly 50,000 social security numbers, salary details and other personal information from current and former workers. The federal suit alleges that emails and other information leaked by the hackers show that Sony's information-technology department and its top lawyer believed its security system was vulnerable to attack, but that company did not act on those warnings.
Sony has not responded to phone calls for comments about the hacker threat and the suit.
