WASHINGTON
The White House said Thursday that it is weighing a “proportional response,” to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment, and subsequent anonymous terror threats surrounding screenings of the comedy movie “The Interview.”
White House press secretary Josh Earnest declined to blame North Korea for the attack while talking to reporters but said that it was “initiated by a sophisticated actor.”
“As the members of the national security team meet to discuss this matter, they are considering a range of options,” Earnest said. “They're first of all, as we would be in any strategic scenario like this, they would be mindful of the fact that we need a proportional response.”
The hackers, who call themselves the Guardians of Peace, released a deluge of confidential, and sometimes embarrassing information; and yet-to-be released films were disseminated on the Internet.
The Guardians also threatened 9/11-style attacks on theaters showing the movie.
"Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to keep yourself distant from the places at that time," the hackers said in an online message posted Tuesday.
Sony canceled the planned Dec. 25 nationwide premier of “The Interview,” that stars Seth Rogen and James Franco who play a team behind a popular TV talk show that is recruited by the CIA to kill North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un.
The cancelations follow the threats and subsequent dropouts by major movie chains, potentially costing Sony millions in revenue and marketing. But Sony's decision to cancel the showing may have come with pressure from other movie studios that see the Christmas Day release of their films as important. Because of the threat, moviegoers could potentially have been scared away from going to any cinema showing "The Interview."
Earnest said President Barack Obama views the attack as a national security matter, and that the U.S. is mindful that it could have been carried out to provoke a U.S. response.
“They may believe that a response from us in one fashion or another would be advantageous to them. So we want to be mindful of that, too,” he said.
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