U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) spoke out last week regarding the alleged North Korean cyber attack against Sony Pictures and its feature film “The Interview.”
Blackburn said that Sony was wrong to back down to the threats of the terrorists. Blackburn said precautions should be put in place to prevent similar attacks in the future.
“Sony should have stood its ground and not surrendered to online terrorists,” Blackburn said. “Their failure to prepare for this threat has effectively allowed them to be held hostage by North Korea.”
The plot of “The Interview” involves the attempted assassination of North Korea’s leader. The film set off a series of cyber attacks and security breaches in which serious threats were made warning Sony not to release the movie. Concerned about potential attacks at theaters across the country, Sony canceled the film’s premiere and pulled it from its lineup of releases.
“This is the type of nightmare data breach scenario many people, including myself, have warned about,” Blackburn said. “We need better data security and privacy provisions. (Internet service providers) should have the ability to block malicious, rogue networks. The private sector and government should also be working together to share information about threats. There is one absolute truth about data – we still cannot protect it.”