U.S. officials are blaming North Korea for Sony Pictures hack

North Korea may have done it after all.

U.S. intelligence officials are reportedly set to announce that the reclusive country was “centrally involved” in the Sony Pictures hack, the largest corporate hack to ever take place on American soil.

According to the New York Times, the hackers, who went by the moniker “Guardians of Peace,” left a trail of evidence that led investigators to North Korea’s door. They used a server in Bolivia that had been used two years ago to carry out cyberattacks on various South Korean targets. The hackers also used malware that closely resembled malware used by “Dark Seoul,” a cybercriminal group that has been targeting South Korea for the last five years.

Perhaps the most frightening bit from this revelation is that the hackers’s tactics are far more advanced than previously believed.

“This [attack] was of a sophistication that a year ago we would have said was beyond [North Korea’s] capabilities,” one U.S. intelligence officials told the Times.

The hack has been incredibly devastating for Sony Pictures and its employees. The leaked documents revealed the Social Security numbers of more than 3,800 individuals, exposed the company’s race and gender pay gap, and included embarrassing details about Sony Pictures’ internal workings.

On Wednesday, Sony Pictures decided to cancel the theatrical release of “The Interview” after the largest theater chains in the country—Regal Entertainment, AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, and Carmike Cinemas—said they would not show the film out of fears that they would be the target of terrorist attacks. Later, a studio spokesperson told Deadline that Sony Pictures has “no further release plans for the film” – not even as an on-demand or Internet-based stream.

Fidel Martinez is an editor at Fusion.net. He’s also a Texas native and a lifelong El Tri fan.