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Sony finds some loose change, flings most of it at lawyers ... the rest at staff hit by 'North Korea'

A few million dollars to be paid out in Interview fallout

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has agreed to pay up to $8m (£5.18m) to settle a lawsuit stemming from its 2014 IT security meltdown.

The movie studio will pay out damages after the personal details of 47,000 current and former employees leaked onto the internet following a network breach said to have stemmed from its decision to release the film The Interview.

Under the terms of the settlement [PDF], Sony will pay out damages of up to $2m (£1.29m) to the current and former employees whose data was stolen by hackers, as well as a fund of up to $10,000 (£6,400) per employee and up to $2.5m (£1.61m) in total for any individuals who experienced identity theft or fraud as a result of the leak. Additionally, the studio will pay out $3.5m (£2.26m) to cover attorney fees and legal costs related to the lawsuit.

If the proposed settlement is accepted by the Central California District Court in Los Angeles, Sony would be liable for up to $8m for the costs and damages. (Sony Pictures Entertainment banked an operating income of $501m (£324m) in its 2013 financial year.)

The studio's servers and computers were ransacked after Sony announced its intent to release the controversial film The Interview. The movie's plot revolves around a fictional assassination of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Nearly 30GB of company data was swiped and dumped online for all to download and gawp at, including internal emails and highly personal information on current and former employees, and Hollywood celebs. The FBI has accused North Korean hackers – a claim many find far fetched.

North Korea denied any knowledge or responsibility for the attack.

It is estimated that The Interview grossed more than $40m (£25.8m) in revenues between streaming and box office sales, thanks in part to publicity the film received from the studio's security breach. ®

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