Sony Entertainment has once again fallen victim to one of the worst cyber-attacks wherein the salaries of its highest paid executives along with private information of over 6,000 employees compromised, according to a media report. This happened after leaking of unreleased movies from Sony’s server on 29th November.
Last week Sony Pictures Entertainment’s entire computer network was shut off and five of the studio’s upcoming movies were dumped.
Kevin Roose of Fusion received the leaked documents of the latest hack from anonymous hackers, which included the company’s 17 top earners on Monday.
The hackers emailed a link to public Pastebin file containing salaries of more than 6,000 Sony Pictures employees that highlighted significant disparity among the salaries of the company bigwigs, said Roose.
94% of the employees drawing a salary of more than $1 million are male; 88% of them being white. Also, 15 of the top 17 executives are white, one African-American and one is South Asian. The list also shows that one woman, Amy Pascal, the co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment and chair of Sony’s Motion Picture Group draws 3 million on par with the company’s highest earner and CEO, Michael Lynton.
The 40 gigs leaked data includes employee names, positions, bonus plans, home addresses, and salaries. It also includes scripts and medical history.
The FBI is investigating the attack. #GOP (Guardians of Peace) has claimed the attack, but there are reports indicating a link to North Korea. Pyongyang was unhappy with Sony Film’s The Interview, a movie that chronicles two journalists’ assassination attempt on Kim Jong Un. The movie is due to be released in North America on Christmas day and the UK in February despite stern letters from Pyongyang to Hollywood, the UN and the White House.
The hackers have revealed the amount paid to two actors, Seth Rogen and James Franco, who featured in the movie.
Sony and the security firm Mandiant are gearing up to name North Korea as the instigator because the tools used against the Sony attack are similar to attacks against South Korea by North Korea, according to a report by Reuters.
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