North Korea's Internet Down, US Denies Responsability.

Sony Hackers Threaten 9/11 Attack on Movie Theaters That Screen ‘The Interview’

The Sony hackers have threatened a 9/11-like attack on movie theaters that screen Seth Rogen and James Franco’s North Korean comedy “The Interview,” substantially escalating the stakes surrounding the release of the movie.

The attackers also released the promised “Christmas gift” of files. The contents of the files are unknown but it’s called “Michael Lynton,” who is the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“The world will be full of fear,” the message reads. “Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.) Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.”

Past messages have included budgets to Sony films, salary information of top executives, and employee medical records and social security numbers.

There have been suspicions that the attack may have been launched by North Korea in retaliation for “The Interview’s” depiction of an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un. The country has denied involvement but praised the attacks.

The note also threatens people who attend the premiere of “The Interview.” A New York premiere of the film is scheduled to take place Thursday at Sunshine Cinema and has already been scaled down, according to a report in the New York Post. A special screening of the film took place in Los Angeles last week without incident.

A spokesman for the studio, an FBI spokesman and a spokesman for the National Association of Theatre Owners were not immediately available for comment.

Read the full message:

Warning

We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places “The Interview” be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to.

Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made.

The world will be full of fear.

Remember the 11th of September 2001.

We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time.

(If your house is nearby, you’d better leave.)

Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

All the world will denounce the SONY.

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lol, this is getting out of control.

I ask those that are more knowledgeable, what exactly could this hackers do electronically to a theater that could rise to the level of a terrorist attack?

The thing is that because of the level of sophistication shown so far by this attack authorities can't rule out that the hackers will make good on their threat, whatever that may be.

Maybe some day they will make a movie about it.

:D

lol.

someone sure has a beef w/ sony... maybe they refused to honor a walkman warranty or something.

Silly little North Korea, a tiny puppy trying to act tough to scare the big dogs.

I will see this movie in theaters just to spite these jackasses.

It is fairly obvious that North Korea is behind this BTW. They can deny all they want, but ridiculous fear mongering is North Koreas game.

Can't take this shit seriously.

Can't wait to pay to see this movie next weekend just to piss off North Korea. lol

Who actually believes North Korea is behind this?

That depends on what kind of damage they want to cause. If they are trying to piss off a few people the best they can hope for are a few hacks that could wipe some important files or make public information they don't want to make public (although in the latter's scenario you would assume that companies would keep their most valuable files off of any system connected to the Internet).

It wouldn't surprise me if their so-called 9/11 attack has nothing to do with hackers but with actual people on the ground attempting to bomb locations showing the movie. North Korea does have spies overseas and in order to keep them "honest" North Korean authorities will threaten to slaughter their whole family in retaliation to any attempt to disobey orders or seek asylum.

Originally wasn't going to see it. Now I am.

Is Microsoft really that mad about being behind in the console war?

Same here.

I think Kim Jong Il was a little more mature than Kim Jong Un. All that happened was North Korea asked the Czech Republic to ban the film in their country, which they refused, and a North Korean diplomat said the portrayal of their country and leader was inaccurate.

Well, guess who is going to go see The Interview on premiere day? This guy.

Yeah, was going to say something like this. Even native Korean speakers were saying the Korean reads like something from Google Translate.

I would see it, except then I realized that I wasn't going to see it before the threats. And I'd rather not let my life be dictated by terrorist threats that are unlikely to turn into actual acts of terrorism.

It's one thing if I wanted to see the movie anyway. But if I wasn't going to see it anyway, then seeing it just because of the threats is pretty much the same as deliberately avoiding it just because of threats.

If something did happen there's be all out war against North Korea.

North Korea has never threatened an attack of the scale talked about in the warning from those hackers.All their threats have only referenced the US in general. Also North Korea would never write something like this because it will not be a great political move, but a terrible one.

lol you guys can't be serious. Who in his right mind could believe this is orchestrated by the North Korean regime? I doubt cyber warfare is part of kim jong un's arsenal. This has hardcore trolls' fingerprints all over it.

I hate to be the party pooper here, but those who are going to see the movie for the sake of patriotic/moral retaliation will be throwing their money away for the amusement of some trolls and into the pockets of Sony executives.

anyone that crashes a plane into seth rogan and james franco would be doing the world a favor.

I'm pretty sure the perps are not North Korean. It's just that North Korea supports these actions.

*tin foil hat* Sony doesn't want to admit it was one of their own whos been leaking this stuff out and is using NK as a scape goat.

Because honestly, I doubt NK would waste their hacking skills on a movie production company. :/

Theaters drop ‘The Interview’ after threat

Theaters are deciding not to show a new comedy film after hackers threatened violence this week.

Thursday’s New York premier of the Seth Rogen and James Franco movie “The Interview” has reportedly also been scrapped.

Carmike Cinemas — the nation’s fourth-largest cinema chain with 278 theaters and more than 2,900 screens in 41 states — is also pulling the plug, according to multiple reports on Wednesday. In making its decision, Carmike is becoming the first major theater chain to cancel planned showings of the movie over fears of possible violence.

The actions come amid growing fallout from a massive hack at the film’s production company, Sony Pictures, that has forced Rogen and Franco to cancel planned promotional appearances.

On Tuesday, the hacker group going by the name of Guardians of Peace threatened violence against theaters that show the movie, telling them to “remember the 11^th of September 2001.”

“The world will be full of fear,” the group said in a message.

The hacking group is suspected to be linked to North Korea, which has praised the high-profile cyber attacks against Sony and called the movie an “act of war” over its comedic portrayal of a fictional assassination attempt against Kim Jong-un, the rogue nation’s leader. While North Korea has denied involvement with the hack, it has nonetheless commended the action as a “righteous deed.”

After Tuesday’s threat, the Department of Homeland Security said that it had “no credible intelligence” about an active plot against movie theaters, but maintained that it would be on the lookout. Sony has given theaters permission not to show the film.

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I keep thinking about the theater bomb explosion in The Siege. Save us Denzel, save us!

lol I highly doubt North Korea would be behind something like this. I can't believe people are seriously thinking that.

Meh I'll DVD this.

This film is causing some epic butthurt. I won't be seeing it, because I think it looks like trash.

@GazaAli: Most people don't think it is North Korea, actually. The support for the film has NOTHING to do with patriotism, and everything to do with not letting terrorist to instigate and spread fear no matter the cause - be it a joke or actual protest against the film. These people have already hacked and spread personal information and are now threatening the lives of innocent people for nothing. As a fan of film and art I am going to see it because people shouldn't be afraid to go to the theater because of a couple douchebags.

Lol. Wasn't planning on watching this. I might buy a ticket just to fund this.

Sony Cancels Theatrical Release for ‘The Interview’ on Christmas

From the article:

With theater chains defecting en masse, Sony Pictures Entertainment has pulled the planned Christmas release of “The Interview.”

In announcing the decision to cancel the holiday debut, Sony hit back at the hackers who threatened movie theaters and moviegoers and who have terrorized the studio and its employees for weeks.

“Those who attacked us stole our intellectual property, private emails, and sensitive and proprietary material, and sought to destroy our spirit and our morale – all apparently to thwart the release of a movie they did not like,” the statement reads.

“We are deeply saddened at this brazen effort to suppress the distribution of a movie, and in the process do damage to our company, our employees, and the American public,” it continues. “We stand by our filmmakers and their right to free expression and are extremely disappointed by this outcome.”

The comedy centers on a hapless television host who is recruited to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. The country has condemned the film and some cyber security experts believe that it played a role in the hack attack on the studio.

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Bow before your master.

Damn. Terrorists have been going about things the wrong way. The entertainment industry is clearly the route to attack - for they all completely buckle under unsubstantiated threats.

False flag - only if an actual terrorist attack happened on this movie's premiere will I never question cyber terrorist threats

Your days are numbered Kim.

Unbelievable. Giving in to baseless threats is a true sign of cowardice.

Sony should release this movie online immediately.

You're not a party pooper, because what you say is nonsense. It has nothing to do with patriotism, instead it has to do with bullies not influencing our lives.

This is so absurd. Watch it be manufactured by Sony to try and divert attention from the stolen data and emails.

But this makes them look even worse. It doesn't garner them any sympathy. It just makes them look like cowards.

If I had a movie that was being threatened by terrorists I'd fucking put it up on the internet for free and put a little donate button next to it. People can pay what they feel is appropriate. I'd donate $50 bucks to watch it. And **** cowards behind their computers for trying to influence my life.

I'd bet good money this entire hack and the following series of threats are being done by some 20-year-old Chinese kid for the lols or at least not someone who actually supports North Korea, much less an actual terrorist group.

People have said that, but the amount of money they may possibly lose (both from ticket sales and possible money owed Rogen and Franco) makes the idea that Sony could be behind this absurd.

South Park was right. The only real power is violence.

It looks the hackers were actually connected to north korea.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/12/17/media/the-interview-sony-theater-owners/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/17/us-north-korea-sony-hack_n_6344250.html

I wonder if Obama is going to do anything to punish North Korea for this? It will make him look weak if he allows an American company (Sony Pictures Enterainment is American, in case you don't know) to be bullied like this.

@airshocker: In Sony's defense, their decision to cancel the theatrical release of the movie came AFTER 5 major movie chains refused to show the movie because of the threats. There essentially was no release opportunity left with theater chains backing down.

I completely disagree with the decision to not have a theatrical release, but I feel major movie chains deserve the blame more than Sony as they basically forced Sony's hand.

Oh and LOL at the idiots who were amazed peopld actually thought NK was behind this. The US has intelligence that they are behind the hacks.

I completely understand that they don't have any control over movie chains. What they should do, however, is release the movie on demand, or torrent it.

You take a little financial hit to show these fucking North Korean scumbags you aren't afraid.

Great the major movie distributors let terrorists dictate the terms... WTF? Is there a list of the movie chains that refused to play it. If so I will try to avoid them when I can for being such cowards against threats with no substance.

Oh really?

Sony Hackers Working for North Korea.

I don't believe that for a minute.

It's a dumb film concept anyway.

Why not?

Because if the US government says one thing, thebest believes the opposite.

I hope this movie sees the light of day one way or another.

In the end I'm suspicious the threat to release a bombshell of unflattering info on Sony Picture's CEO was the reason behind it being pulled. Then again I think the risk of violence might be too much of a burden for them to bare over the release.