US calls movie studio hack a national security breach

With the Hollywood scandal threatening to escalate into geopolitical crisis, Sony defended its decision to cancel the release of "The Interview," a movie about a fictional CIA plot to kill Kim Jong-Un.
"This is bigger than us," the studio insisted, as footage that leaked onto the Internet showed that the film's climax was to have been a graphic close-up of the North Korean leader's fiery death.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest declined to confirm reports that North Korea had attacked the movie giant, which pulled the film after hackers invoked September 11, 2001 in threatening attacks on cinemas.
But, in a sign US intelligence believes the attack came from an enemy of the United States, he said: "The president considers this to be a serious national security matter."
Earnest said the attack, which saw hackers gain access to a trove of internal Sony documents, was carried out by a "sophisticated actor."
"There has been destructive activity with malicious intent, and the administration believes that that activity merits an appropriate response from the United States," he told reporters.