BlackBerry services and devices proved reliable for hacked Sony employees

BlackBerry's enterprise-grade security enabled Sony executives to continue communicating even when internal systems and landlines went down - Photo by Gadjo C. Sevilla

While Sony Pictures was left reeling from the massive and instrusive hack which revealed a ton of inside information and even saw various movies leaking before they hit theaters, it seems the company relied on BlackBerry devices and services in the wake of the unprecedented hack. Sony apparently dug up old BlackBerry devices after networks and landlines went down in order to communicate and keep the business running.

Reports are sketchy, but it seems that while Sony's internal servers and systems were eviscerated by hackers, older BlackBerry Enterprise Servers were relied on to enable communication on older BlackBerry handsets. BlackBerry, which is attempting a slow but sure resurgence in enterprise, might benefit from this sudden surge in high-profile security breaches. 

Source: ZDNet

Report claims U.S. officials believe North Korea hired foreign hackers to hack Sony

After Sony was hacked and its sensitive information have been dumped on the Internet, the FBI named North Korea as the culprit behind the hack. A new report from Reuters cites an official “close to the investigation” that says the U.S. officials believe North Korea hired foreign hackers from outside the country to hack Sony Pictures Entertainment. According to the source, North Korea doesn’t have the capability to “conduct some elements of the sophisticated campaign by itself.” While they maintain that North Korea is behind the “theft and destruction of data” of Sony Pictures Entertainment, the reports says the U.S. officials are investigating if North Korea really did contract hackers from outside its country.

Source: Reuters | Via: Ubergizmo

North Korea’s internet goes down yet again

It’s the second time in less than a week that North Korea’s internet and 3G network goes down. The outage lasted for more than five hours, according to Dyn Research. After losing internet access for over nine hours earlier this week, North Korea issued a statement on Friday blaming the U.S. and President Barack Obama for the outages.

North Korea has been blamed for the hacking of Sony Pictures Entertainment and the leak of files and emails of studio executives and other Sony employees. But they deny any involvement in the controversy.

Source: Mashable