Sony hackers leak details of firm's deal with Netflix and info on celebrities

[Aerosol]

Hackers have leaked documents alleging to be the terms of Sony's licensing agreement with Netflix. The hackers sent the information to V3 using various compromised email addresses as a part of a wider data dump.

The messages included a basic 'We have released the data here' text and link to data reserves stored on various free upload sites.

Sony and Netflix had not responded to V3's request for comment on the alleged leaks at the time of publishing.

The Netflix files were stored on shorttext.com, and F-Secure security analyst Sean Sullivan, who aided V3's investigation, said that the files "seem" to have been based in Virginia and hosted on Amazon's cloud.

The file had been deleted at the time of publishing.

Prior to the Netflix message the hackers sent V3 links to various other alleged leaks, which claim to be information on over 3,000 contacts, including celebrities, stolen from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The leaks are the latest in a stream of security woes for Sony. The security crisis began in November when a group operating under the #GOP hashtag attempted to blackmail the firm.

"We've obtained all your internal data, including your secrets and top secrets. If you don't obey us, we'll release data shown below to the world," the group said in a message posted on the site.

The reason for the attack remains unknown, although industry rumblings suggest that the motivation is political and aims to stop Sony releasing controversial comedy The Interview.

The source of the attack is also shrouded in mystery, but North Korea has refused to confirm that it is not behind the campaign.

The attack has led to a fresh backlash against Sony for its lax security practices. Reports suggest that the hackers managed to access so many of the firm's systems as Sony stored passwords in an unprotected file labelled 'passwords'.

The hack is reportedly being investigated by the FBI. Sony is rumoured to have hired advanced threat specialists at security firm Mandiant to help with the investigation.

Sony is one of several big name companies to suffer data breaches this year. JPMorgan revealed in October that a cyber strike on its systems successfully compromised data belonging to 76 million households and seven million small to medium sized businesses.

The chief executive of US retail giant Target, Gregg Steinhafel, stepped down in the wake of a data breach in May.

Source