File photo. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
The Sony Pictures hacking saga continued to unfold Tuesday with hackers calling themselves Guardians of Peace releasing yet another round of data leaks. The latest message includes ominous threats against the studio’s film "The Interview," in which the group references the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
The email message was sent to reporters with links to peer-to-peer sites, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and contained Part 1 of the group’s “Christmas Gift,” which it promised in previous messages on Saturday and Sunday.
Variety reports that the contents of the files are unknown, although the files are called "Michael Lynton," a reference to the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Under the heading "warning," the group delivered a threat to movie theaters in halting English. "We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to," it read. "Soon all the world will see what an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be full of fear."
The shadowy Guardians of Peace, or GOP, group claimed responsibility for the Nov. 24 hack that wreaked havoc on Sony Pictures’ network and set in motion a series of leaks.
Tuesday’s message is the latest in a flurry of cyber blows aimed at the studio, which have included leaks of confidential data and unreleased movies, as well as threats against Sony employees. The producers of James Bond films have also acknowledged that an early version of the screenplay for the new movie "Spectre" was among the material stolen in the massive Sony Pictures cyberattack.
In yet another twist Guardians of Peace offered not to release some email correspondence from Sony Pictures' employees Sunday. The group urged employees to contact them if they don’t want their correspondence released.
The finger of suspicion has already been pointed at North Korea over the hack, although Sony Pictures recently denied a report that it was poised to blame Pyongyang for the attack. The studio’s forthcoming film “The Interview,” starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalists enlisted to assassinate dictator Kim Jong-un, has outraged North Korea.
There has also been plenty of speculation that the cyberattack was an inside job.
With the shockwaves from the hack still reverberating, Sony Pictures has demanded that at least three media outlets stop reporting stories based on documents obtained by hackers.
The effects of the hack are being felt across the U.S. technology sector. Pravin Kothari, CEO of cloud security specialist CipherCloud told FoxNews.com that other businesses are looking to ramp up their data security in the aftermath of the Sony Pictures breach.
“We’re seeing many more enquiries for protecting HR and employee data in the cloud after the Sony breach,” he said. “Whenever a high-profile breach happens we see a lot more urgency from our customers to advance their plans to put more protection in place.”
Sony Pictures has not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from FoxNews.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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