initial estimates of the damage caused to Sony Pictures Entertainment by unauthorized access to its systems and the leak of films in the works. But a price cannot be put on everything, some clarify. At the same time, the FBI continues to search for those responsible, and new evidence is coming to light about the involvement of even the president of the Japanese giant in shaping critical scenes in the film that is considered to have caused it all.
The damage that Sony Pictures Entertainment could reach as much as $100 million (about 80 million euros), Jim Lewis, from the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Reuters. This includes the cost of investigating the problem, restoring and/or replacing systems, as well as implementing system shielding measures, with lost productivity from the shutdown of information systems further increasing the damage. However, it is probably too early to make a total estimate - it usually takes six months, and the company refuses to provide figures since the process is still ongoing.
Perhaps the biggest blow dealt by the still unknown attackers is the release of films that have not yet been released - such as the musical Annie- a leak for which Macquarie Research estimates that Sony will record a loss of $83 million.
Sony Pictures Entertainment had operating profits of $501 million in the fiscal year ended March 2014. Based on these preliminary third-party estimates, the company's loss from the attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment is significantly less than that sufferedin 2011, when data of registered users of its online services was leaked ($171 million, approximately 138 million euros).
However, there are hidden costs from a cyberattack of this magnitude - considered the largest Internet-based blow to a company on American soil. For example, no one can estimate how much it will cost the subsidiary of the Japanese giant if corporate documents, such as contracts or marketing plans for films, are leaked to its competitors, or finally, the reaction of famous actors who saw their personal information publicly posted on the Internet.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that, according to emails exchanged between Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chair Amy Pascal and Sony's CEO in Tokyo in late September 2014, Kazuo Hirai approved the most controversial scenes in the comedy film The Interview that are considered to be related to the invasion, provoking the anger of the North Korean government. Hirai approved with notes the scene in which the North Korean leader dies in a bomb blast and requested that the scene in which his face is seen be removed from releases of the film outside the United States.
FBI Director James Comey tells the Associated Press that it is not yet clear who is behind the attack.
However, since Monday, Sony Pictures has been facing a new nightmare after receiving a new ultimatum demanding the cancellation of the film's screening on December 25, threatening new retaliation.
Source: tech.in.gr
