Sen. John McCain , the incoming chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee , will hold a hearing into the cyber attack on Sony Pictures in the first two weeks of the next Congress . McCain also called the cyber attack `` an act of war '' and said that while the U.S. should n't respond with rockets and missiles , the U.S. should hit North Korea with a cyber attack of its own . `` This is the greatest blow to free speech that I 've seen in my lifetime probably , '' McCain said Friday on Arizona radio station KFYI 550 's `` The Mike Broomhead Show . '' `` We have to respond in kind . We have lots of capability in cyber and we ought to start cranking that up . '' U.S. officials do plan to respond to the cyber attack , and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the response would be `` proportional . '' Officials have not yet decided what that response will entail . RELATED : Obama says 'Go to the movies ' Sony Pictures this week pulled the release of the controversial comedy `` The Interview '' -- which depicted an assassination plot against North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- after a group of North Korean-backed hackers broke into Sony 's servers and threatened to attack movie theaters . Sony 's decision sparked outrage from Hollywood to Washington . McCain added that Sony should `` suck it up , show the movie , '' joining calls for Sony to release the movie for free online . On Thursday , the Arizona senator also slammed the Obama administration in a statement for failing to `` satisfactorily address '' cyber warfare and pledged to push the issue in his role as the top senator on the Senate Armed Services Committee . `` Cyber security is the least understood , most dangerous element of our national security today , '' McCain said . RELATED : 5 burning questions for Obama .
McCain spoke about the Sony hack with an Arizona radio station Friday . He called the incident `` the greatest blow to free speech that I 've seen in my lifetime probably '' He promised to hold hearings early next year in his Senate committee .