The forensics experts who Sony Corp hired to investigate a massive cyber attack at its Hollywood studio have told the company that the breach was unprecedented in nature.
Kevin Mandia, whose forensics firm FireEye has probed some of the biggest and most sophisticated cyber attacks known to date, has told Sony that the scope of this attack differs from any they have responded to in the past.
He said its purpose was to both destroy property and release confidential information to the public.
Mr Mandia said it was an unparalleled and well planned crime, carried out by an organized group, for which no commercial company could have been fully prepared.
Reuters reports they are among the first comments about the investigation to be made public, yet they do not discuss what people most want to know: The extent of the damage to the studio's network or who was behind the campaign, the most destructive cyber attack reported to date against a company on US soil.
The destructive attack knocked much of Sony's network off line with malware that wipes drives of PCs, making them unable to operate. It is expensive to repair them because each drive needs to be manually replaced or re-imaged.