The day after Christmas, Sony Music accounts received an unexpected gift as the company’s accounts were hacked.
Hackers hacked several Twitter accounts belonging to Sony Music. Hackers told the world that the pop-singer Britney Spears died in an accident. “britney spears is dead by accident! we will tell you more soon #RIPBritney,” Sony Music Global’s account tweeted. Reps for Britney Spears would later confirm that the singer was in fact alive and not involved in an accident.
The hacking group OurMine later tweeted saying they detected unusual activity and checked to see if Sony was hacked.
But it is important to point out OurMine’s recent history. Earlier this week, OurMine hacked the Twitter accounts of the NFL, Netflix and Marvel. The group also previously hacked Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai. In addition, OurMine also has a history of hacking websites including TechCrunch and BuzzFeed. The group labels themselves as a security company that analyzes accounts to see if they are secure. However, their services are not free. In fact, the company charges $10 to test email security.
This is not the first time Sony was hacked. Two years ago prior to the release of Seth Rogen’s movie The Interview, a hacking collective known only as the “Guardians of Peace” hacked the Sony Pictures corporation. The group demanded the company stop distribution of a comedy that showed the planned assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
After threats of violence, Sony canceled the wide movie release of the movie and decided to release the movie online and at select theaters. However, hackers still released private emails, social security numbers and documents from Sony Pictures. Some of the emails were damaging and included offensive jokes referencing President Barack Obama. Not to mention, alleged abuse on set of American Hustle. US officials later revealed that hack was perpetrated by North Korea.