Sony Pictures hacked, entire computer system unusable – Sony denies hack (updated & corrected)

When reports emerged that Sony had been hacked, I didn’t post anything here, waiting for confirmation. Instead of confirmation, Sony denied all claims of hacks.

Today, however, there seems to be some confirmation, however unofficial.

TheNextWeb is reporting:

According to the Reddit thread, an image appeared on all employee’s computers reading “Hacked by #GOP” and demanding their “requests be met” along with links to leaked data.

The Reddit user that posted the thread posted a year ago that they worked at Sony Pictures.

The ZIP files mentioned in the images contain a number of documents pertaining to financial records along with private keys for access to servers. The message shown on computers mentions demands that must be met by November 24th at 11:00PM GMT or further files will be released.

A source within Sony has anonymously confirmed to TNW that the hack and image that have appeared on computers inside Sony Pictures is real. They said that “a single server was compromised and the attack was spread from there.”

Read more on TheNextWeb.

Update: Sony has released the following statement: (CORRECTION: the statement below was about a previously claimed hack involving PlayStation, not these new claims – thanks to the commenter who pointed out the error on our part).

The statement explained, “We have investigated the claims that our network was breached and have found no evidence that there was any intrusion into our network. Unfortunately, Internet fraud including phishing and password matching are realities that consumers and online networks face on a regular basis. We take these reports very seriously and will continue to monitor our network closely.”