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3. Political Motivations May be at Play.As recently highlighted by the Sony Pictures data breach, a major motivation in databreaches and cyber attacks can be politics. In early December 2014, a hacking groupcalling itself Guardians of Peace brought down Sony Pictures’ corporate email andleaked five films and a slew of sensitive personnel data, including a spreadsheetallegedly containing salaries of some 6,000 employees and top executives, as well ashealth-care records, office call lists, and performance reviews. 24The cybersecurity firmSony hired to help deal with the aftermath initially explored the possibility that hackersbased in China targeted studio computers in retaliation for the upcoming release of thefilm “The Interview,” a comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as journalistshired by the CIA to kill dictator Kim Jong-un. Investigations ultimately tended todemonstrate involvement by the North Korean government. 25Similarly, following the Home Depot credit card breach, a massive new batch of creditcards labeled “American Sanctions” and “European Sanctions” went on sale in anunderground crime shop. 26These “Sanctions” caused security experts to opine thebreach was intended retribution for the contemporaneous U.S. and European sanctions24 Rachel Emma Silverman and Ben Fritz, Data Breach Sets off Upheaval at Sony Pictures, The WallStreet Journal (Dec. 4, 2014 10:14 a.m.), http://online.wsj.com/articles/data-breach-sets-off-upheavalat-sony-pictures-1417657799(last visited Jan. 13, 2015).25 James Rogers, Expert: Why the North Korean cyber threat is real, Fox News (Dec. 1, 2014),26www.foxnews.com (last visited Jan. 13, 2015).Krebs on Security, Banks: Credit Card Breach at Home Depot (Sept. 2, 2014),http://krebsonsecurity.com/2014/09/banks-credit-card-breach-at-home-depot/ (last visited Jan. 13,2015).March 6, 2015 13 © 3-6-2015 ALFA International Business Litigation P.G.