The Sony hackers reportedly threatened a U.S. media organization

According to FBI documents obtained by The Intercept, the hackers who broke into Sony's computer network and intimidated the company into canceling the planned premiere of its movie The Interview have also threatened a U.S. media organization. It is not clear which company was the target, since the FBI bulletin only refers to it as "USPER2."

On December 20, the hackers (who call themselves the "Guardians of Peace") posted a message on Pastebin, a free, anonymous text-sharing service, taunting the FBI and the media company "for the 'quality' of their investigations," according to the bulletin. The message further implied a future threat, but not a specific one.

U.S. media websites have struggled with using strong encryption (to protect against cyberattacks), since many ad servers do not support its use. But this alarming news, and the fact that Google is now boosting encrypted site rankings in its search algorithm, could be sufficient motivation to get both ad networks and media sites on board.

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