Norse CTO says he has evidence that Sony cyber attack was ‘inside job’

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Dilip Vishwanat | SLBJ

Sam Glines, CEO of Norse Corp.

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Brian Feldt

Reporter- St. Louis Business Journal

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Tommy Stiansen, the chief technology officer for Norse Corp., a cybersecurity firm that has one of its two offices in St. Louis, said he has forensic evidence that the cyber attack on Sony was an inside job.

Sony Pictures Entertainment was the target of a cyber attack on Nov. 24 that took down its computer systems. Corporate information, such as salaries of executives, were also leaked in the breach.

In the immediate aftermath, many pointed to North Korea as a potential culprit.

Stiansen thinks otherwise.

"The only reason people are talking about North Korea is that North Korea spoke out against Sony," Stiansen told Bloomberg Politics. "But North Korea is better than that. They wouldn't steal all the other movies and not grab 'The Interview.' I am convinced that this is an inside job. The group, Guardians of Peace, nobody has never heard of them. I cannot find a drop of information on them. I would say if we can't find anything on them, they don't exist and they're certainly not tied to any particular government."

Norse, which also has an office in San Mateo, California, employs approximately 50 people. Norse CEO Sam Glines did not disclose revenue but said the company is on path to triple its first quarter sales in the second quarter.

Norse, in December, secured $10 million in financing from Oak Investment Partners. To date, the company has raised more than $20 million since being founded in 2010 by Glines, a Saint Louis University graduate and former consultant with Accenture (then Anderson Consulting), and Tommy Stiansen, a Norwegian computer scientist, entrepreneur and computer security expert.

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