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​Sony hackers offer to suppress pilfered employee information

The group that claims to have hacked Sony Pictures and has been publishing the information on the Internet says studio's employees have a chance to keep personal data private. It says more releases are coming.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam

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A pedestrian waits near the entryway to Sony Pictures Entertainment in Los Angeles, California on December 4, 2014, a day after Sony Pictures denounced a cyber attack it said netted a of confidential information. FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

The group that has been posting private correspondence from Sony Pictures Entertainment said Sunday it's giving employees the chance to keep their emails from showing up publicly, Recode reported.

All employees have to do is write the group, who call themselves Guardians of Peace, and ask:

"Message to SPE Staffers. We have a plan to release emails and privacy of the Sony Pictures employees. If you don't want your privacy to be released, tell us your name and business title to take off your data."

The message also promised "more interesting" data is on its way and in greater quantities. The self-declared hackers posted the note on Pastebin and Friendpaste, sites hackers frequently chose to release stolen data on. Sony did not immediately return a request for comment.

It's been an embarrassing few weeks for Sony. Last month, hackers stole internal documents and emails and have been releasing them gradually to file-sharing networks, with the latest data dump occurring on Saturday. A handful of movies, including a few Sony has yet to release, have also been leaked.

The information has included celebrity data, and a report that indicated Sony knew its network was vulnerable to a cyber attack.