Sony Pictures suffered a massive hack by a group names "GOP" that forced its staff to use primitive pen and paper to perform their reports and work assignments.
Before the system totally shut down, employees who tried to log on to their work computers at Sony Pictures Entertainment were welcomed by a horrible sight: an image of a sneering red skeleton and an ominous warning that read: "Hacked By #GOP," along with other threats, Los Angeles Times reports.
Employees all over the country resorted to using pen and paper to finish their tasks, and take calls using landline telephones.
"GOP" reportedly stand for "Guardians of Peace," a malware Trojan used by criminals to steal money from computer databases by sending out a bogus message to accuse its victims of a bogus police fine, Enigma Software reports.
GOP warned Sony that it was able to get important information and dig up dirt from one company behind movies such as "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" and blackmailed the company that it would release it to the Web on Monday, Nov. 24.
"We've already warned you, and this is just a beginning," the message read. "We continue till our request be met.... If you don't obey us, we'll release data shown below to the world," the threat read.
However the hackers reportedly were not able to push through with their plan.
Meanwhile, Sony did not comment on the issue and just said that it was looking into an "IT matter."
An insider from the company however revealed that other parts of Sony including Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Pictures Animation were not affected by the breach.
According to Philip Lieberman, president of security management program, Lieberman Software, Sony became vulnerable after the hackers were able to get hold of login information of an IT administrator and penetrate the system.
"Sony lost control of their environment," he said.
