New reports indicate that Sony received extortion threats before hackers released massive amounts of company data, including emails and company documents, approximately 200 gigabytes of data in all, according to a Wired report.
In the first attack and subsequent release of data, hackers first told Sony that they would release the documents if the film giant did not meet an unspecified demand, according to the report. Wired reports the hackers sent messages that popped up on employee computers saying they had previously warned Sony and that the release of data was just the beginning.
On Nov. 21, the hackers sent an email to Sony executives indicating they want monetary compensation, and if Sony does not pay up, the company will, essentially, face severe consequences, according to Wired.
However, the group releasing the stolen documents claims to not know about the emails sent to Sony, which the report says questions if there is more than one group accessing Sony's network or if the hackers are just trying to remove themselves from the previous attempt at blackmail.
The Sony hack precedes a recent blackmail attack on a hospital in Illinois in which an anonymous person emailed the hospital threatening to release patient data if the hospital unless the hospital gives a "substantial payment."
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