WikiLeaks publishes Sony hack documents, emails

Months after Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered from a crippling cyberattack, troves of the studio’s leaked information has resurfaced on WikiLeaks.

The Julian Assange-run website, known for its massive release of classified U.S. military documents and diplomatic records, on Thursday published a searchable database called “The Sony Archives.”

It contains 30,287 documents from Sony Pictures and 173,132 emails to and from more than 2,200 Sony Pictures email addresses.

“This archive shows the inner workings of an influential multinational corporation,” Assange said in a statement on the website. “It is newsworthy and at the centre of a geo-political conflict. It belongs in the public domain. WikiLeaks will ensure it stays there.”

U.S. officials confirmed that the North Korean government was behind the attack as retaliation over Sony Pictures’ release of “The Interview,” a comedy starring James Franco and Seth Rogen about a fictional attempt to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Following hacker threats, Sony Pictures yanked the film from theatrical release, but later put it on video-on-demand platforms and in select theaters due to public backlash.

Executives, including Sony Pictures’ former Co-Chairman Amy Pascal, came under scrutiny after hackers released confidential emails that contained insensitive remarks about prominent figures in the industry as well as President Barack Obama.

Hackers also leaked digital files that contained confidential information. These files contained about 47,000 Social Security numbers of current or former full-time Sony employees, contractors and actors. Judd Apatow, Sylvester Stallone and Rebel Wilson were among those whose personal information was hacked.

In December, lawyer David Boies, writing on Sony’s behalf to the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations, described the leaked material as “stolen information” and called on media outlets to destroy emails or other Sony documents in their possession.

WikiLeaks archives detail everything from “connections and alignments between Sony Pictures Entertainment and the U.S. Democratic Party” to examples of Sony “collecting ‘intelligence” on rival pictures, such as Oliver Stone’s “Snowden.”

Sony Pictures representatives did not immediately reply for comment.

This story was originally published April 16, 2015 at 12:36 PM.