BREAKING: U.S. Officials Link Sony Hacks to North Korea

Well, it looks like what has long been expected is now official: North Korea is responsible for the Sony email hacks.

Pete Williams of NBC News confirmed the story from several inside sources, who note that while the hacking originated from outside of North Korea, U.S. officials have enough evidence to believe the hackers were acting on orders from North Koreans.

"We have found linkage to the North Korean government," said a U.S. government source.

However, the officials offered no further details on their investigation.

North Korea had been the prevailing theory as to the culprits behind these attacks, since the hacking scandal came about as a result of controversy over The Interview, the Seth Rogen-James Franco comedy centered on a plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un. The controversy surrounding the film has only grown exponentially over the past several weeks, as the New York premiere for the film was canceled amid threats of retaliation against any theater that shows the film, prompting Sony to ultimately cancel the release of the film altogether. It sets a dangerous precedent to give in to what are likely empty threats. Would North Korea seriously risk war with the U.S. over a comedy movie? I'm not sure what, if any, release the movie will get now. Maybe it'll go straight to video on-demand once the heat dies down a bit? The only thing known for sure is that this has been an all-out debacle for Sony, and could cause a ripple effect throughout Hollywood in how security measures and business practices are handled (I'm guessing if another movie like this ever gets made, for example, they'll simply play it safe and use a fictional world leader like they probably should have done here).

More as it develops.

Via: NBC News

Credit: Sony