President Obama has called out Sony for craven censorship on a day the Federal Bureau of Investigation formally announced that North Korea was behind the hacking of Sony Corp.

In a statement the FBI said that it has enough information to conclude that the North Korean government is responsible for these actions.

The bureau said that its investigation revealed links to other malware that it knows North Korean actors have used previously developed; that there was an observed significant overlap between the infrastructure used in this attack and other malicious cyber activity the government has previously linked directly to North Korea, and that the tools used in the Sony attack have similarities to a cyber attack in March of last year against South Korean banks and media outlets, which was carried out by North Korea.

“We are deeply concerned about the destructive nature of this attack on a private sector entity and the ordinary citizens who worked there” the FBI said in a statement. “Such acts of intimidation fall outside the bounds of acceptable state behavior. The FBI takes seriously any attempt—whether through cyber-enabled means, threats of violence, or otherwise—to undermine the economic and social prosperity of our citizens.”

At a press conference at the White House, President Obama didn’t mince his words when it came to Sony’s decision to pull the movie from cinemas, a move he called a mistake.

“We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship here in the United States,” the Commander in Chief said, while noting he was sympathetic on the circumstances Sony is facing.

“Imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in self-censorship because they don’t want to offend the sensibilities of somebody whose sensibilities probably need to be offended.”

He added that the Government was considering a proportional response.

Sony responded to the Presidents remarks stating that he was mistaken in blaming the company, and instead pointed the finger at movie chains.

“The movie theaters came to us one by one over the course of a very short period of time… and announced that they would not carry the movie,”Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment said. “At that point in time, we had not alternative to proceed with the theatrical release.

“We have not caved, we have not given in, we have not backed down,” he said.