Sony Pictures' website has been down for over 24 hours now. The system went down, after a hacking group named #GOP gained access to the full system, taking "secret documents" and changing the home-screen to a blackmail letter.

What is most odd about the blackmail is there is no real demand. Money might have come into the equation - but in an interview with The Verge - one of the group's leaders, identified as lena, claims they want "equality" from Sony.

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Equality is a rather broad term and it is unlikely Sony can give it to the hackers in one day. The original time-window has already been passed for releasing the documents, which appears to be mostly podcast and promotional material.

In follow up questions, lena also claimed to have gained access to Sony Pictures' internal systems through employees working at the studio. "Sony doesn't lock their doors, physically, so we worked with other staff with similar interests to get in," lena did not discuss if these employees are actively working with #GOP. 

There have been no media reports of issues at Sony Pictures. Apart from the studio not doing too well this year revenue wise, it looks to be a normal movie and TV studio. The inequality issue might stem from Sony's main hub in Japan, where there is noteable difference between male and female pay.

Hacking the U.S. studio would not be the answer to this issue though. The hackers did name Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton a "criminal" in an attack earlier today, potentially linking the CEO to the issue with inequality at Sony Pictures.

It looks like Sony does not take the threats seriously. Sony has responded to comment, saying they are aware of the IT issue and is actively working to get it fixed. It has not responded to comment on the ransom.

There has not been this serious of a data breach in quite some time. Sony Pictures workers cannot access machines, which take up a lot of time at a movie studio, making work grind to a halt.

It is unclear how long Sony intends to keep the hackers away, before trying to negotiate. Then again, if Sony has no idea what the hackers want, it is hard to really offer anything to them.

Sony was not available for comment on the potential employee intrusion, leading to the hack.

TagsSony Pictures, sony, hackers, GOP