A quick breakdown of what has happened in the past 10-ish days:
- The Hermit Kingdom denied any involvement in the Sony hack (Dec. 19).
- The CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Michael Lynton, staunchly defended Sony’s handling of the situation and denied that Sony appeased North Korea by canceling the movie (Dec. 19).
- On the Hill, Senators called for North Korea to be put back on the state sponsor of terror list while others called for cybersecurity legislation (Dec. 19).
- North Korea offered to set up a joint investigation to look into the hack. U.S. officials quickly rejected the offer (Dec. 20).
- Obama announced that the attack was not an “act of war,” but an “act of cyber vandalism.” (Dec. 21).
- North Korea experienced a complete internet blackout but it is unknown if it was caused by a U.S. response or if North Korea cut itself off from the outside world to mitigate the chance of a U.S. response (Dec. 22).
- Sony announced a limited release of The Interview for Christmas day and later made it available to rent or buy on Youtube, where it made $15 million.