Guardians of Peace
Guardians of Peace (GOP) is a hacking group that became known in connection with a cyber attack on Sony in 2014.
Guardians of Peace launched a cyber attack on Sony in late November and released internal documents and emails. In the attack, the social security numbers of 47,000 Sony employees, various passwords and other company internals amounting to several terabytes were stolen. She uttered threats against the film comedy The Interview from, which is about a murder plot against North Korea's ruler Kim Jong Un is. As a result, several US cinema chains decided to take the film out of the program. In response, Sony initially canceled the film's theatrical release. Eventually the film was released in a few independent cinemas as well as online.
background
The weekly newspaper Die Zeit published various theories as to who is behind the Guardians of Peace:
According to one theory, the threats are blackmail . According to this theory, the blackmailers are not necessarily identical to the GOP and simply pursue monetary interests. A week after the cyber attack, strangers threatened and blackmailed several Sony employees. The group called on them to admit the company's mistakes "so as not to be harmed." What the hackers have done so far is only a small part of a larger plan. Sony confirmed the existence of the emails. However, the GOP distanced themselves from it: "We do not know anything about threatening e-mails to Sony employees", it says in a message from GOP.
A second theory is that the attack revolves around the action comedy The Interview . The announcement of the film produced by Sony caused resentment among the North Korean tour. When the Sony hack became known, some observers therefore suspected that the attack was initiated from North Korea. In a message published on the GitHub platform , alleged GOP members urge Sony to comply with the following demand: The company should stop the publication of the "terrorism film" which "threatens regional peace". It was the first time the GOP hackers explicitly mentioned the upcoming film The Interview . The fact that the perpetrators published the supposedly terrible film themselves on the internet casts doubt on the theory that government agencies in North Korea ordered a film to be hacked. The spokesmen for the North Korean government denied participation, but at the same time call the action a "just act" .
Individual evidence
- ↑ tagesschau.de. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014 ; accessed on December 21, 2014 .
- ↑ zeit.de: Trolled, hacked, blackmailed. Retrieved December 21, 2014 .