CHINA TOPIX

10/31/2024 08:00:10 pm

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Sony Pictures Hackers Worked From Thailand

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(Photo : Reuters) The hackers, going under the name #GOP, apparently used a 5-star hotel in Bangkok to attack Sony Pictures.

In the ongoing attempt by security experts to get to the bottom of the Sony Pictures attack, new information claims the hackers used the 5-star hotel St. Regis hotel in Bangkok to send the attack.

Considering experts have spanned the whole of South-East Asia, it is not surprising Thailand - a country with limited regulation or security on the Web - has been a forefront for the hacking group #GOP.

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The hack may have been administered in one of the rooms or in the lobby area. Security experts are not sure about who tried to hack and if they were on a mobile device - although this is highly unlikely due to the severity of the hack.

Even though the hacking group have been located in Thailand, this does not pin the blame onto Thailand's government. Most security officials working on the Sony Pictures hack still point to North Korea as the potential attacker, despite the country denying involvement

Plenty of DarkSeoul mentions have been found in the last week. DarkSeoul is a North Korean based hacking group who were prominent in 2013.

The two hacking collectives - DarkSeoul and #GOP - share a lot of similarities with one another. The code looks similar, pointing to the same hackers working in both groups.

Sony Pictures is back online, after what experts call the largest and more detrimental hack ever. The attack is unique in that the hackers seem to want to shame Sony, rather than inflict commercial damage.

#GOP sent a message to the employees at Sony Pictures, warning them that their families could be in danger. The email managed to hit most employees inboxes, showing the scale of the attack.

In the original leak information dump, over 47,000 private details of employees were leaked, alongside business contracts for actors, budgets for upcoming movies, visas and upcoming films.

The FBI is working closely with Sony Pictures - it is unclear if the studio will receive a penalty for allowing the attack to take place. There has been no official connection between #GOP and any internal employee, despite #GOP referencing internal help to execute the attack.

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