The recent hack at Sony Pictures Entertainment revealed far more personal information than previously believed, including the Social Security numbers of more than 47,000 current and former employees along with Hollywood celebrities like Sylvester Stallone.
Following the violation, vast quantities of highly confidential company data have been leaked online. The amount of data released is so large, in tens of terabytes, that it’s a logistical challenge to even download it, much less analyse it. So far, screeners for upcoming films including Fury, Annie, Still Alice, Mr. Turner, and To Write Love On Her Arms have been unearthed, as well as names, salaries, social security numbers and birth dates of thousands of employees.
From Scott Rudin and Amy Pascal’s tense email exchange, to Marvel’s bid to get Spider-Man in Captain America, to Jessica Alba’s bizarre alias, every single detail has been leaked.
Pay rates in the visual effects industry are fiercely guarded by companies in order to avoid giving employees the upper hand in negotiations. Sony itself warns prospective recruits against discussing wages with others in recruiting materials distributed at industry events such as SIGGRAPH and CTN eXpo. There is also an ongoing and expanding class action lawsuit over anti-poaching and wage-fixing deals by Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Sony Pictures Imageworks and other animation studios in the US.
Leaked Sony emails has also publicised about Sony’s new projects. They want the next Jump Street film to crossover in some way with Men in Black. In response to the idea, Jonah Hill wrote in an email: “Jump Street merging with MIB I think that’s clean and rad and powerful.” The film is described as a high profile project for the company, with a target release date of 2016 or 2017.
Emails released by the Sony hackers have revealed that Marvel Studios wanted Spider-Man to appear in Captain America: Civil War, which is due in 2016.
A leaked PowerPoint slide reveals how Sony decides whether or not to green-light certain video game adaptations. According to the slide, Angry Birds is “popular and exciting”, but “is not viewed as having good stories”. Sony’s Angry Birds movie is due for release in 2016.
The FBI has declared the attack on Sony a “watershed event,” warning American businesses to brace themselves ahead of potential further attacks.