Sony Pictures Cyber Incident: Preservation Considerations
Primary query focus
Cyber incident evidence handling: neutral acquisition and chain‑of‑custody documentation for a later investigative workflow.
- Preserve relevant communications and account activity records (email, tickets, chat exports).
- Acquire copies of incident artifacts (images, reports) in a read‑only documented manner.
- Maintain a clear record of who handled what, when, and under what authorization.
Boundary note: this page describes preservation planning and documentation mechanics. Legal strategy, admissibility, and investigative conclusions remain with counsel and/or separately retained experts.
Internal reference: D365-INS-SONY-001
Content reviewed for preservation relevance.
Preservation-focused notes (informational only; no legal advice).
Incident ContextStory overview: In late 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment experienced a major cyber intrusion that disrupted internal systems and was followed by the public release of internal data, including business communications and documents. The incident generated operational, legal, and reputational impacts and led to investigations, claims activity, and litigation. This page provides a brief preservation-focused framing of the types of records that often become material in subsequent reviews.
Following the 2014 Sony Pictures intrusion, internal records and system artifacts became relevant to investigations, litigation, and claims activity. When an incident includes data exposure, preservation needs may extend beyond recovery artifacts to business records that could later be referenced in external proceedings.
Where preservation risk shows upEarly response frequently involves containment, credential resets, and system rebuilds, often supported by third parties. Common risk points include log rotation during extended response, mailbox retention changes, device reimaging, and ad‑hoc exports shared among stakeholders. Preserving a clear record of what was captured (and what was not) may be as important as the capture itself.
Records that may become material- Business communications (email, internal messaging, executive decision trails)
- System and security logs (authentication, endpoint telemetry, network monitoring)
- Response documentation (timeline notes, vendor reports, containment and rebuild records)
- Data-exposure related records (export inventories, notification drafts, takedown/monitoring notes)
- Access control changes (password resets, privilege modifications, account lifecycle events)
In later contested matters, reviewers may look for contemporaneous documentation: collection dates/times, custodians and sources, transfer steps, storage controls, and integrity verification (where applicable). A consistent workflow can reduce uncertainty when multiple parties handled data during a fast‑moving response.
Scope boundaryThis page does not describe investigative findings, attribution, or incident conclusions. It is limited to preservation and documentation considerations.