Why it’s So Hard to Calculate the Cost of the Sony Pictures Hack - The Washington Post

The Washington Post, By Andrea Peterson

The cyberattack on Sony Pictures went far beyond the typical corporate hack -- with attackers allegedly leaking huge amounts of data, including personal information about employees and internal company strategy information. The malware reportedly used in the attack also damaged the underlying systems at the company, making recovery much more difficult than other types of corporate cyberespionage.

"These attacks are pretty devastating," said Kurt Baumgartner, principal for security research at Kaspersky Lab. The investigation into the situation could run on for months, and the cleanup will likely cost millions "if not tens of millions," he said.

Baumgartner cited examples such as retailer TJ Maxx, which he says reported over $250 million in cleanup costs from a 2007 hack, and the Target breach from last year, which he expects will probably run over $400 million in cleanup costs. In 2011, Sony's PlayStation Network was hacked, costing the company an estimated $170 million. Read more.