The Sony breach started off as a piracy story. Five new movies from the studio were stolen by hackers and shared on the internet. The purloined films, including Brad Pitt’s “Fury” and the then still-unreleased “Annie,” were downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. The true extent of the hack would only be felt weeks later. Along with the films, hackers also leaked troves of documents, including Sony work emails, salary history, employee data.
The North Koreans were rumored to be behind the attack, allegedly in retaliation for being made fun of in the Sony comedy “The Interview.” In mid-December, theater chains in North America announced that they won’t carry the Seth Rogen film after hackers threatened violence. The FBI were called in, which identified North Korea as the culprit of the attack Dec. 19. Sony, which earlier cancelled the Dec. 25 release of “The Interview” announced today that it has secured a limited release for the film.
In the span of 6 weeks, the Sony breach has turned into a story about national security, cyber-terrorism, and creative freedom. In this hour of AirTalk, we’ll look at the cultural, political and business implications of the breach.
Guest:
Tatiana Siegel, Senior Film Writer, The Hollywood Reporter;
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Stewart Baker, a partner at the law firm, Steptoe & Johnson. He is the former first Assistant Secretary for Policy at the Department of Homeland Security where he set cybersecurity policy
Kim Zetter, senior reporter at WIRED and author of the book, “Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon” (Crown, 2014)
Scott Borg, Director and Chief Economist of The United States Cyber Consequences Unit, which was founded at the request of senior government officials, who wanted an independent, economically-oriented source of cyber-security research
Stowe Boyd, Social Analyst for GigaOm Research - which provides analysis of emerging technologies for individual and corporate subscribers; also dubbed as a Web Anthropologist and Futurist