How do we know this? Well, the network status Web page for Xbox Live showed the service to be “up and running,” although PSN was still offline – officially speaking, at least. This is a rather downer of a holiday season for the folks over at Sony, what with their Sony Pictures subsidiary being the target of a cohesive cyber-attack as the movie which parodied North Korea’s reclusive leader being killed, known as ”The Interview”, was about to be released. The hacker group that claimed responsibility behind this attack was called the Guardians of Peace, who then even put up a threat of an attack on the scale of 9/11 should the movie be shown .
Sony subsequently decided to cease release of the film after U.S. authorities came to the conclusion that North Korea was the party behind the cyber-attack, although the plan was changed eventually – much to the relief of movie buffs.