back to article Sony Pictures hires Mandiant, asks FBI for help after massive cyber attack

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has hired FireEye’s Mandiant forensics unit to help it clean up the huge cyber attack that knocked out its network and forced its employees to put pen to paper over the last few weeks. The company has also asked the FBI to investigate the incident and look into the leak of four of its upcoming …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ahahahahahahahahahaha.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Not nice to Sony?

      POR QUEEEEE??

  2. James 51

    So, how long before the movie of this comes out?

    1. Captain DaFt

      "So, how long before the movie of this comes out?"

      Oh, within a year or two, but I doubt it'll be a Sony film!

  3. Donkey Molestor X

    *after a huge, enterprise-halting hack*

    CEO: see! I TOLD YOU I.T. WAS A COST CENTRE.

    1. James 51
      Flame

      All sony movies will be shot on ceulliod from now on.

  4. localzuk Silver badge

    A good network security team at Sony then...

    Surely they should've been able to detect such a large-scale intrusion?!

    1. AlbertH
      Linux

      Re: A good network security team at Sony then...

      Surely they should've been able to detect such a large-scale intrusion?!

      Nope - they "run" Windows.....

      Game Over!

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As well as their fee

    do you think that SONY will give a PS4 and a selection of games to each of the Mandiant janitors (sorry) forensics crew as a thank you? would make a nice Xmas box for them.

  6. Bob Wheeler
    Big Brother

    However, the CIA has other ideas....

    At times it's hard to tell the difference between 'make-believe' and 'real-life'

    1. Suricou Raven

      Re: However, the CIA has other ideas....

      The CIA doesn't assassinate national leaders. We know this because there are a lot of national leaders still alive that I'm sure the CIA would really like to see hit by a car.

      Note 'national leaders' though - when it comes to powers not recognised as politically legitimate, drone strikes are not unusual.

      1. phuzz Silver badge

        Re: However, the CIA has other ideas....

        "The CIA doesn't try to assassinate national leaders anymore.

        FTFY

  7. LucreLout

    Don't you just love cost savings...

    Sony execs could best spend the Christmas period reflecting not on how much IT costs their business, but upon how much they have cost their business by trying to cut costs in IT.

    Efficiency is good; everyone should strive for that. Just be aware that the same reasons you don't send your wife/mistress/gf to a cheap plastic surgeon are the same reasons you shouldn't be trying to do IT on the cheap. Cut price oncologist anyone?

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

      Re: Don't you just love cost savings...

      "you shouldn't be trying to do IT on the cheap"

      On the plus side, Sonys IT Crowd can just keep referring back to "The Great Hack of 2014" every time they need a budget increase or to argue against cost-cutting.

    2. BillG
      Coat

      Re: Don't you just love cost savings...

      Sony execs could best spend the Christmas period reflecting not on how much IT costs their business, but upon how much they have cost their business by trying to cut costs in IT.

      In an ideal world, yes. But in the cold reality of the movie business, I'm sorry to say that what you will see, in the very near future, is Sony execs voting themselves obscenely-massive multi-million dollar bonuses.

      This is what corporations do when the Company appears to be on the brink of bankruptcy, which Sony will soon face (due to lost business, lawsuits, etc). Corporate officers take as much money as they can so the employees can't get it. Take a look at what Wall Street firms did in the 2008 crash.

      There will be no guilt, no remorse from Sony executives. Instead there will be a giant sucking sound as the greedy corporate vampires of Sony's top brass sucks all the cash out of the dying company.

      Until corporate officers are held PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for hacks, privacy violations, etc. this sort of thing will continue.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So what was the 4th film?

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      A remake of the 3rd man.

    2. LucreLout

      So what was the 4th film?

      Hackers II

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And the Oscar goes to......

    I'm told that relatively new films often appear on 'sites that Santa doesn't visit' at this time of year, due to 'screeners' falling into the wrong hands. Surely the good people at Sony are not guilty of trying to put the blame on pirates / norks / anyone but themselves, when it's possible their own attempts to curry favour with critics could be to blame?

  10. b166er

    Another network fail, you'd have thought they would have learned their lesson with the PSN breach. Maybe $400,000 wasn't enough.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good

    Now Sony knows how all the people they hacked with their rootkit felt.

    Never buy Sony.

  12. MJI Silver badge

    Everyone is now a target.

    Especially if you rip the piss out of baby ronery.

    Want to upset him - make a sex film with baby ronery and that Yank basketball player.

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