“It’s more than a burglary and home invasion,” said Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer at security research firm Trend Micro. “It’s, ‘I want to slaughter your family as well.’”
The incident has the whole entertainment industry on edge, wondering who’s next.
“Hollywood is very much a reputation driven business and economics and relationships are really the coin of the realm,” said Seth Shapiro, a two-time Emmy winning producer who has worked at film studios like Walt Disney Company and Universal Pictures. “In this case, both of those were hit.”
Sony stands to lose over $100 million in the wake of the cyberattack, with some analysts predicting that number could double.
“It really does feel like the overarching intent of it was to burn the company to the ground,” Shapiro added.
Lawmakers have noted the shift as well, highlighting the ill-defined line between psychological cyberattacks and cyber terrorism.
“In the past, crime has been the primary motivation [in cyberattacks], but terrorism is now something that’s of equal concern,” said Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), who chairs the House subcommittee on cybersecurity, during a Friday interview on “Fox and Friends.”
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