There is more to just a hack into Sony: the latest PR fiasco involves various inconsistencies between what Sony and the White House are saying from their respective points of view--something that has become quite ridiculous and absurd:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sony-hack/white-house-sony-never-told-us-it-planned-pull-interview-n272381
First of all, clearly there is a lack of communication between Sony and the US government (i.e., did CEO Michael Lynton even talk to the FBI or President Obama at all after discussing with the theaters and making the decision about whether to proceed with the movie showing?). If anything, this not only exposes Sony's lack of judgement and poor decision making, but also erodes the company's credibility as to whether this whole thing is really about "The Interview" movie and North Korea, or there is something else dark and sinister that the company is trying to hide? The fact that the company is hiring David Bois to deal with the media seems to show that there is more to it than meets the eye:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/business/sony-pictures-demands-that-news-organizations-delete-stolen-data.html
Let's be clear: Sony as a company is the victim here. However, the way the executives, board, and PR are handling this case only makes matters worse and calls attention as to whether the executive team is really honest or they are more worry about protecting their personal interests and jobs.
Secondly, all signs seem to point to the fact that this is an inside job: clearly there is a mole (or ex-mole) in the company for this to even happen. How else can that much data leak without IT noticing? Either IT team is clearly incompetent, or they don't care--in either case, it points to poor judgement on the executive team's part: didn't they learn from the previous Sony hack? What investments have the company made to protect their IT infrastructure and secure the company's data? What on earth were the company's priorities to start with?
The person (or persons) who did the hack is clearly targeting Sony--not the movie itself (nor the moviegoers for that matter). "The Interview" is simply an opportunistic excuse that plays into the timing of it all. The hacker's motivation here is not about money, but ideology. But why? To answer that the investigation should focus on the question of who might Sony have offended in the past--perhaps a disgruntled (former) employee, contractor, or otherwise person of interest who might want to see Sony destroyed--whether North Korea is involved or not is really a side question at this point:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-these-experts-still-dont-buy-20141221-column.html
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-sony-hack-inside-job-not-north-korea-20141231-story.html
The best thing that Sony can do now at this point is not to play the PR game and confuse the matter further, but to come clean and face the matter with courage and honor: the company owes its employees--and the rest of the world--at least that much. As to whether the executive team can truly put their personal interests aside and face the truth, only time will tell.
