Sony won’t be back online until February
Sony Pictures’ systems won’t be back online until February, following a massive cyberattack in late November that shut down the film studio’s computer network.
The company revealed the timeline in a filing to Japanese regulators. The film studio’s parent company, Sony, is based in Japan.
{mosads}The Sony hack crippled the studio’s network, wiping data from servers and exposing troves of internal documents and emails. The movie studio almost cancelled the release of a big-budget comedy, “The Interview,” after the hackers made violent threats against theaters.
The U.S. government has blamed North Korea for the attack, arguing the reclusive East Asian regime was retaliating for the comedy’s depiction of the assassination of leader Kim Jong Un.
Sony has spent months trying to repair its systems.
“Most of [Sony’s] financial and accounting applications and many other critical information technology applications will not be functional until early February 2015,” the company said.
As a result, Sony requested to extend its deadline from Feb. 16 to March 31 to file its quarterly financial results.
But it gave some preview of the monetary fallout from the hack.
“While Sony continues to evaluate the impact of the cyberattack on its financial results, it currently believes that such impact is not material,” Sony said.
Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton has downplayed speculation that the company will lose upwards of $100 million from the incident. The company’s insurance should cover much, if not all, of the damage, he said.
The studio said it will hold a press conference on Feb. 4 to discuss the financial hit from the digital assault.
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