Company warned by hackers to take down North Korean movie - report

oke efagene

December 9, 2014 10:45 AM

Following an attack on Sony Pictures' servers, reports have claimed that a group has come out to demand that the company's movie studio pull a soon-to-be-released comedy flick depicting the fictional CIA plot to kill North Korea's leader.

Though North Korea on Sunday denied any involvement in the cyber attack on Sony servers, it referred to the act as a "righteous deed" potentially carried out by supporters who are furious over the movie, "The Interview," which is due out on Christmas Day.

According to entertainment journal, Variety, and the Wall Street Journal, a new message released by a group that calls itself GOP - or Guardians of Peace - said: "We have already given our clear demand to the management of Sony. However, they have refused to accept."

In obviously non-native English, it continued: "It seems that you think everything will be well, if you find out the attacker, while no reacting to our demand. We are sending you our warning again.

"Do carry out our demand if you want to escape us. And, Stop immediately showing the movie of terrorism which can break the regional peace and cause the War!," it said, without referring explicitly to "The Interview."

The movie, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong-Un, has infuriated Pyongyang, which earlier warned of "merciless retaliation" against what it called a "wanton act of terror."

It is due for release in the United States on December 25.

A spokesperson for Sony Pictures did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a source familiar with the case said the authenticity of the latest message was unclear, adding "Many people (are) coming out of the woodwork."

Meanwhile another Sony division, the Playstation Network, was also the target of an attack which took it offline for two hours on Sunday, which has led coverage of the GOP hacking affair.

A group called Lizard Squad claimed responsibility via its Twitter account, noting that the group has claimed to be behind two other hacks this month on Microsoft's Xbox Live network.

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