WATCH: The FBI is investigating one of the most serious cyberattacks on an American company and warning it could be just the first in a wave of attacks. As Jackson Proskow reports, this attack may have been in retaliation for a movie that hasn’t even been released yet.
TORONTO – The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation warned businesses of the risk of damaging cyber-attacks launched by malicious software after hackers attacked Sony Pictures’ servers last week, according to a new report.
A five page confidential “flash” warning was issued to U.S. businesses Monday, providing details about an advanced form of malicious software capable of overriding all of the data on users’ hard drives, according to Reuters, which obtained a copy of the warning.
“The overwriting of the data files will make it extremely difficult and costly, if not impossible, to recover the data using standard forensic methods,” the report said, according to the news organization.
Though the warning doesn’t specifically mention the attack that took down Sony’s internal computer systems last week, the description suggests that the two could be linked.
READ MORE: ‘Fury,’ ‘Annie’ remake among leaked Sony movies following cyber-attack
Hackers attacked Sony Pictures’ systems last week, knocking corporate email and other internal systems offline. Sony workers reportedly saw a message appear on their computer screens that read, “Hacked by #GOP,” which may be the initials of a group calling itself “Guardians of Peace.”
Since the attack, five Sony Pictures films have been leaked online including the remake of the classic film Annie that isn’t supposed to hit theatres until Dec. 19.
Sony has not yet confirmed the authenticity of the leaks.
Many reports have speculated that the cyber-attack could be linked to Sony Pictures’ forthcoming film The Interview, in which comedians Seth Rogen and James Franco star as journalists who are enlisted by the CIA to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un during an interview.
READ MORE: FBI investigating cyber-attack at Sony Pictures
On Tuesday the FBI confirmed it is investigating the cyber-attack.
“The company has restored a number of important services to ensure ongoing business continuity and is working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter,” read a statement from a Sony spokesperson issued Monday.
Sony has also brought in forensic experts from the Mandiant division of FireEye, a Silicon Valley cybersecurity company, according to a source familiar with the case who did not want to be named because the companies have not yet announced the arrangement.
The firm has worked on a number of high profile data breach cases, including the Target data breach that resulted in the theft of millions of debit and credit card numbers.
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