Guardians of Peace

The Guardians of Peace is a threat actor, a term used in cybersecurity to refer to entities that execute actions with malicious intent. This group is most notorious for its 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures, during which they disclosed confidential data including private details about employees and their relatives, inter-employee emails, high-level salary information, and unreleased Sony films. The attack was initiated after company executives received phishing emails from the group. Despite the group's self-identification as the "Guardians of Peace," the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) quickly attributed the attacks to North Korea within 25 days. This conclusion was reached despite the inherent difficulties typically associated with identifying such actors. Once the FBI officially blamed North Korea, no one in the U.S. government appeared to question this attribution, fully supporting the FBI's claims. It's worth noting that the Guardians of Peace have also been referred to as the Lazarus Group or the Whois Team, indicating the existence of an unknown number of hackers within the organization. Their activities extend beyond the Sony hack, with incidents of stoking conflict globally, such as in Ukraine, thereby undermining peace negotiations. This group's actions highlight the persistent threats posed by such cybercriminal entities in today's digital landscape.