Sony Hires Mandiant, a Forensics Unit, to Clean Up After Cyber Attack

Mandiant, FireEye Inc.’s forensics unit, has been recruited by Sony Pictures Entertainment to restore and strengthen its computer network in the wake of a cyber attack that resulted in five unreleased movies being leaked online. The FBI has opened an investigation into the incident.

Last Monday, Sony’s system went down, replaced by a red skull and the phrase “Hacked by the #GOP”. The GOP in this instance is not the nickname for the US Republican Party, but a hacker group known as Guardians of Peace. Though Sony have refused to comment on the extent to which their servers have been compromised, e-mails to Sony employees have been bouncing back with a message asking the sender to call the person in question, as the system was “experiencing a disruption”.

Mandiant has a track record at responding to such attacks, having performed a similar role after the Target Corp attack in 2013.

Source: Reuters