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Sony Pictures Entertainment has demanded that news organizations stop the publishing of private information from what is shaping up to be one of the most devastating corporate hacks of all time.
On Sunday, a three-page letter from Sony’s attorney, high-profile lawyer David Boies, was sent to media organizations including Re/code, demanding that organizations that have obtained the leaked information avoid publishing any more material from the hackers, and destroy existing copies. Boies called it “stolen information.”
The New York Times and the Hollywood Reporter have received similar letters.
The letter said the studio “Does not consent to your possession, review, copying, dissemination, publication, uploading, downloading, or making any use of the Stolen Information.” The letter further demanded recipients of the letter confirm that they have destroyed their copies.
If organizations failed to comply, Sony said that it will have “no choice but to hold you responsible from any damage or loss resulting from such use or dissemination by you.”
The letter comes after waves of devastating disclosures — now totaling eight — by the hackers. The latest data dumps arrived on Saturday and Sunday; the situation has reverberated across Hollywood and struck fear into corporate IT departments everywhere.
Sony Pictures suffered a massive cyber attack, first disclosed on Nov. 24, that crippled its internal corporate network. The attackers, a group calling itself the Guardians of Peace, took responsibility for the attacks and the theft of what it claimed was nearly 100 terabytes of data from Sony’s computers. Some of the data has been leaked to file-sharing sites, much to the embarrassment of Sony executives.
Among the disclosures so far: Five Sony-produced motion pictures, four of them unreleased, leaked to file-sharing sites; several gigabytes worth of email archives belonging to as many as four Sony Pictures executives; and scores of sensitive internal documents, including salaries, contracts, financial data and business plans.
The attack is thought to be linked to a forthcoming movie about a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The attackers have demanded that Sony halt the release of what it has called the “movie of terror.” North Korea has denied a hand in the attack, but has applauded the actions of the attackers.
Here’s the letter (we redacted the personal contact information):
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
