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Inside the Sony Hack

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Inside the Sony Hack

What it was like to be a rank-and-file Sony employee as the unprecedented cyberattack tore the company apart.

Slate,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The Sony Pictures hack had far worse consequences than just a movie premiere cancellation.

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

In this unnerving article, Slate contributor Amanda Hess interviews multiple anonymous Sony Pictures employees, who give their perspectives on the enormous North Korean cyberattack on the company. The unprecedented attack on Sony’s complete digital infrastructure included blocking all company data from employee access and the hacking of highly sensitive personal employee information. Hess shines a light on what it felt like to be a Sony employee in the days and weeks following the attack. getAbstract recommends this article to anyone whose company maintains a digital presence.

Summary

On November 24, 2014, North Korea allegedly hacked Sony Pictures in response to the political comedy film The Interview, which humorously depicts the death of dictator Kim Jong-un. The hackers threatened to publicly release Sony data. The attack blocked all employees from Sony’s software, files and databases for weeks, leaving computers virtually useless. Employees relied on face-to-face conversations and handwritten communications to continue work, going well beyond their typical work schedules and job descriptions in order ...

About the Author

Amanda Hess is a prolific writer for Slate, producing various articles about social media, the Internet and social issues. She is also a David Carr fellow at The New York Times.

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