Sony has reportedly tapped in FireEye Inc’s Mandiant forensics unit to clean up the mess resulting out of the hacking attack which left all of its computer systems inaccessible last week.
According to Reuters, citing a Sony insider with knowledge of the matter, the incident is also being investigated upon by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. The same source also confirmed that technicians are working to fix the damage caused by the attack and the company expects to have Sony Pictures’ email system back online Monday.
Last week, the company’s employees found an image of a red, glowing skeleton on their computer systems, along with a series of URL addresses, and a message from a hacker collective group that referred itself by the monicker #GOP threatening to disclose internal data and Sony “secrets” if their demands were not met.
Sony’s employees were ordered not to connect to the company’s corporate network or to check their work mails until the email-system gets recovered from the attack.
Mandiant is FireEye’s well-known security incident response unit which deals in forensic analysis, repairs and network restoration. The arm has handled some of the largest breaches uncovered to date, including the one experienced by US retailer Target in 2013.
Sony’s executives have refused to comment on the scope of the attack.
Representatives with FireEye and the FBI also declined to comment.
