If you do mean getting a 1099 for the "loss", then you're wrong. Getting 1099'd (1099A or 1099C) is dischargeable in bankruptcy, even if you get the 1099 after you're discharged. All you do is file Form 982 with your taxes and it's gone. (Of course, IANAA - I am not an Accountant...) I filed BK7 in 2011, got discharged in 2012, and had a property foreclosed on that was discharged, and got a 1099-C in 2013. The full amount of the 1099-C was not considered income on my 2013 taxes (filed & payable in 2014...)

And who isn't to say that, as part of the hack, once they found someone high enough with the right credentials, they didn't create a couple of AD accounts? In mid-size organizations, identity management is dealing with thousands of accounts, having to create numerous exceptions for specific people and applications (oh, this Task Scheduler task can't allow for the account to change--and it needs super-duper-Admin rights to these particular servers; this Windows Service that runs on the production CRM server can't change password). So, a hacker could just hide some new accounts with fake descriptions for applications in-house (e.g. "SQL-Salesforce sync"), give them super rights even allowing for password changes, and presto... Or worse, pick such a valid account and start adding servers it has rights to. Security by Obscurity (ironically on the security platform).

The other advantage of the air-gapped network is that you no longer "need" to update the computers within the network with most of the security updates that come across Windows Update. Build them from DVDs & SPs with known hash values, never having connected them. Who cares if those PCs are still stuck on Win7-SP1 or Win8.1 RTM. Their primary attack vector (e.g. the big bad Internet) is unavailable. Even if these machines are built with malware, the worst that could happen is that they get erased, but the data still doesn't go out.

But what about e-mail? IM? Interwebs? Facebooking? Really??? Buy a 2nd, low end PC, wirelessly connect it to the corporate network, and volia! Hell, you could even use a KVM for this purpose, if you'd rather not spring for the expensive $400 laptops. Don't take the easy approach of connecting the networks in a way that only allows for RDP sessions--a determined hacker with unlimited funds (e.g. state sponsors) would figure that one out.

But what about Adobe Cloud or whatever program needs to connect to the Internet? Most such programs have alternative options for air-gapped networks (e.g. a license server), and a company like Adobe could be brow-beat by a company like Sony into disabling phone home. For high-risk applications where you can't talk your vendor out of phone-home, it's time to look for a new vendor...

Brian Krebs got one, reported on it, and was kind enough to post it for the world to see Sony for their true colors...

Article: http://krebsonsecurity.com/201...
Demand Letter: http://krebsonsecurity.com/wp-...

I can hear Barbara Streisand's voice now... (Well, what I hear is "her" voice from the Mecha-Streisand "South Park" episode...)

I'm not sure why banks don't, but Craigslist already blocks almost all Tor nodes--despite its comparatively meager resources (vs. banks')...

False-flag operation or not, that's a crime. If someone within Sony (or hired by Sony--e.g. their cybersecurity contractor) sent such an e-mail, that person is doing the equivalent of "screaming 'fire' in a crowded theater, when there is no fire". Not protected by free-speech and that person should be criminally charged with a felony.

Explain how airgapping doesn't make you immune to Windows Updates? If your PC can't talk to Microsoft, and unless you're going old-school sneakernet with flash drives, how is it going to get updates? Most Windows updates solve some sort of security hole, usually caused by the execution of malicious software or some sort of security hole that's exploitable from the Internet. Take away "the Internet" and lock down what people can execute on their PCs within "the island" and problem solved. Yes, you now have a known unpatched security hole--but one that can't be exploited without access to the Internet. No malicious links, attachments, unauthorized software, browser toolbars, etc. Just people using limited specific software & specific versions on (for example) Windows 7-SP1.

As has been proven by Stuxnet and this breach, unlimited state-sponsored funds ALWAYS beats "networks with layered protection". Big-name companies that spend shitloads of money on security still get breached. 15+ years of "breeding a culture of corporate security" also hasn't worked. But if you require the network to have a physical presence, then you've eliminated your primary attack vector.

So how did companies handle such networks 20+ years ago, where employees in "other offices" (cities, other locations in the same city, etc.) could access files, databases, etc., without any vector out to the Internet? Wouldn't be that hard to create a disconnected network island "war room" in each office--disconnect some ports & buy new routers. The real issue ultimately becomes that you now might want to consider multiple such air-gappped networks (e.g. R&D, HR, Finance, etc.)

I have to assume that data breaches are much worse cost... This one has lost sales, lost goodwill, lawsuits, potential government fines (e.g. HR data), network design changes, etc. Even a $10 million air-gapped network would have been a bargain compared to this mess...

I'm still waiting for a massive Salesforce data breach... That'll be interesting when it happens.

With all the state-sponsored corporate & military espionage caused by China & Russia, with the never-ending probes from government agencies like the NSA/DHS/GCHQ/etc., with malware & ransomware attacks that can encrypt data in (generally) unbreakable forms, with criminal hacking organizations making off with millions of credit card numbers from retailers, with apparently no network controls as to how much data leaves company firewalls & where it goes, and so on, why aren't there more internal air-gapped networks in companies???

This has hit the point of absurdity. If you are working on military plane designs, working on your next corporate acquisition, or even making movies or music worth tens of millions of $$$, why would you put your prized, unreleased digital files on computers that have Internet access? What kind of batshit stupidity is that? What, so your employees can browse Facebook & check Outlook e-mail at the same time? Such an air-gapped network would easily become an island--one that doesn't need Windows Updates, can stay on an old service pack, gets no software updates that solves 2 problems and but makes a new one (e.g. we know the bugs), and the like. And if those employees really need their Outlook e-mail, IM, or the Inter-Webs where they work, they can have a 2nd very low-end PC, connected to the main network, with a KVM between the two. Might even increase efficiency, given the mind's inability to multitask well. Or give them freaking iPads on a wireless network that's not connected to their "sensitive" work computer.

It boggles the mind that given all these problems, which are increasing in frequency & cost every day, we still have little more than software firewalls & hardware routers between a company's most highly-sensitive assets (files & computers) and the big-bad-Wild-West-no-holds-barred-Internet.

And you know this, how??? We all know that it should happen this way, but we have no way of knowing for sure whether that's the case. If my IoT thermostat gets hacked & reprogrammed to burn my house down, which is connected to my IoT furnace, how do I know that the IoT furnace a) hasn't also been hacked, b) even has the requisite hardware you speak of?

Read up on the Therac-25 incidents of the 1980s... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...