It seems that the recent hacking of Sony Pictures might’ve led to several of the studio’s DVD screeners hitting the web, including Fury and the soon to be released Annie. The leak is allegedly part of the hack that may have connections to North Korea, but nothing is confirmed at this point.
What is confirmed is that hackers took a large amount of data from Sony Pictures and now their films are appearing online for download. From Torrentfreak:
While the attack appears to be aimed at punishing Sony for its actions in the past, reports suggest that the attackers also made off with an estimated 11,000 gigabytes of files. Seriously upping the ante, the hackers warned Sony that “sensitive” data would be released into the wild if their demands were not met…
[While] Sony desperately tried to get its systems back online and figure out what had been taken, mid-week and within minutes of each other, DVD screener copies of four Sony movies began appearing online. Making matters worse, just one has been officially released in the United States. They are:
‘Still Alice‘ starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin (US date: Jan 16, 2015)
‘Mr Turner‘ starring Timothy Spall. (US date: Dec 19, 2014)
‘Annie‘ starring Jamie Foxx and Cameron Diaz. (US date: Dec 19, 2014)
‘Fury‘ starring Brad Pitt (US date: Oct 17, 2014)
Fury is the only film on that list to have been released prior to the hack, but the proof of a connection is limited to passing comments and speculation. The entire thing seems like too much of coincidence, though.
Things look a little rough for the folks at Sony Pictures at the moment. The company is committed to finding those involved and is treating it all as a criminal matter. The big issue here is if these events turn out to not be connected. It would shine a bright light on some lackadaisical security at the company.
(Via The Verge / Torrent Freak)
