I don't think North Korea is actually behind this attack. Consider that someone in the West made up a rumor about Kim Jong-il feeding his uncle to a pack of hungry dogs and North Korea didn't threaten to launch terrorist attacks all over the West in retaliation.
Also consider Sony just Bained itself. Why anyone hires Bain to restructure its business is a mystery; most people can figure out "fire half your employees and sell off everything outside your core competency even if it's making you money" on their own.
(It seems that the Acme Corporation had a problem: their employees couldn't see down the hall. The management of Acme called in Bain to consult on the problem. Six months later, Bain's team returned with an hour-long PowerPoint presentation.
"We have determined your problem is your headcount is bloated. Immediately terminate fifty percent of your employees. One million dollars, please."
That didn't solve the problem, so they called Bain back in. Six months later, Bain revealed another PowerPoint presentation.
"Acme's principle problem at this juncture is a series of ill-advised forays into businesses outside your core competency. We recommend selling off nine divisions. Two million dollars, please."
That didn't solve the problem either, so Bain came back in, and six months later...
"Acme's most critical issue is that its stock price is undervalued due to lack of respect from Wall Street. We recommend doing a Leveraged Buyout. It will cost you $220 million in up-front fees, plus management fees of 12 percent of your gross revenues for a period of ten years."
That still didn't solve the problem, so Bain came back...
"We recommend doing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy immediately."
Before declaring bankruptcy, Acme called in another consultancy for a second opinion. The consultant was briefed as to the problem, disappeared for ten minutes, and returned.
"The problem is solved. Twenty bucks for gas, coffee and parking, please."
'What the hell did you do?'
"I found the light switch."
Reports indicate the hackers stole 100 terabytes of data. Got news for ya: YOU CAN'T STEAL A HUNDRED TERABYTES OF DATA IN JUST A FEW DAYS! My feeling is, some Sony employees with high-level access to Sony's servers have been stashing "insurance" data over the last few years onto physical media, just in case they got downsized and needed to retaliate against the company.
Edit history
= new reply since forum marked as read