- Tech
-
-
Tech
The gadgets, platforms, and software that make your digital life possible. If it bleeps, clicks or blinks, you’ll find it here.
-
Devices
-
Categories
-
-
- Internet Culture
-
-
Internet Culture
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Streaming
-
-
Streaming
-
Services
-
Featured
-
-
- IRL
-
-
IRL
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Social
-
-
Social
-
Categories
-
Featured
-
-
- Live TV
-
-
Live TV
-
Services
-
Guides
-
-
- More
- Search
See all Editor's Picks →
See all Popular →
Represented by Complex Media, Inc. for advertising sales.
Privacy Policy Terms & Conditions Ethics
Latest
- TikTok conspiracy theorists think Juice WRLD is still alive Wednesday 7:03 PM
- Conservatives are protesting YouTube’s new harassment rules Wednesday 5:36 PM
- YouTuber’s ‘creepy’ comment about Taylor Swift’s eggs gets ratioed Wednesday 5:31 PM
- Bloomberg razzed for accidentally making an Alexa Fleshlight Wednesday 5:29 PM
- Who is putting cowboy hats on pigeons? Wednesday 4:33 PM
- Scammer reportedly bribed Facebook employee to keep posts up Wednesday 3:36 PM
- The 1975’s singer criticized for ‘Islamophobic’ rant Wednesday 3:22 PM
- Ready to dish out $52K for Apple’s new Mac Pro? Wednesday 3:03 PM
- N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell discuss their new Green Lantern comic, ‘Far Sector’ Wednesday 3:00 PM
- YouTube says it will be harsher on creators with ‘patterns of harassing behavior’ Wednesday 1:15 PM
- Why one senator stopped a vote on net neutrality Wednesday 12:49 PM
- Man reportedly denied refugee status after officials fail to forward email Wednesday 12:09 PM
- ‘Jojo Rabbit’ star to lead Disney+ ‘Home Alone’ reboot Wednesday 12:08 PM
- Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland were harassed by Jagged Edge as teens, Mathew Knowles says Wednesday 11:52 AM
- White nationalist Nick Fuentes is upset MTV aired his white nationalist views Wednesday 11:37 AM
Hacked Sony emails reveal that Sony had pirated books about hacking
Oh, the irony.

Sony doesn’t like pirates—except, perhaps, when Sony feels like pirating.
Hacked Sony Pictures Entertainment emails, published in full on Thursday by WikiLeaks, reveal that Sony had pirated ebooks on its servers. This is particularly notable because Sony has engaged in aggressive and even illegal anti-piracy actions in the past.
Here’s another dose of irony for you: The books are educational tomes about hacking, exactly the subject that Sony would now like to be thoroughly educated in since last year’s hacks put all this information into the public sphere.
So someone at @sony downloaded a pirated copy of my book. You guys couldn’t afford to buy a copy? https://t.co/KNT5ZvUdhU
— Jeffrey Carr (@jeffreycarr) April 17, 2015
Author Jeffrey Carr’s Inside Cyber Warfare is a classic of the information-security genre that’s been widely read and widely copied. Some of those readers and copiers work within Sony, it was revealed yesterday when WikiLeaks published their searchable version of the Sony archives. Both the PDF and TXT files are available.
Meanwhile, Sony was thinking of new ways to combat piracy including, the leaked emails reveal, putting out fake torrents on sites like Pirate Bay as part of their anti-piracy strategy.
The torrents would be disguised as Sony television shows, in this case Hannibal, but would actually be 60-second public service announcements urging users to watch the show legally.
The idea was nixed.
“Forget about a site blocking strategy if we start putting legitimate PSAs or promos on sites we’ve flagged to governments as having no legitimate purpose other than theft… PSAs being for public good, etc…,” Sony executive vice president Keith Weaver wrote.
Later on, another Sony executive vice president, Amiee Wolfson, celebrated the arrest of a Pirate Bay founder as a “huge win” though she worried if hackers would retaliate.
Carr’s book isn’t alone.
Hacking the Next Generation, another book on information security from the same publisher (O’Reilly), can be found in full PDF format on Sony’s servers.
O’Reilly did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication, and Sony declined to respond.
For what it’s worth, both books are definitely worth a read.
Book cover via Inside Cyber Warfare/O’Reilly

Patrick Howell O'Neill
Patrick Howell O'Neill is a notable cybersecurity reporter whose work has focused on the dark net, national security, and law enforcement. A former senior writer at the Daily Dot, O'Neill joined CyberScoop in October 2016. I am a cybersecurity journalist at CyberScoop. I cover the security industry, national security and law enforcement.