The founder of Snapchat has written to staff to say he was "devastated" company secrets were revealed in the data hack suffered by Sony last month.
Evan Spiegel posted his internal memo on Twitter today after company acquisitions and future strategy were made public by the Guardians of Peace (GOP) hackers on Tuesday.
Spiegel wrote: "I've been feeling a lot of things since our business plans were made public last night. Definitely angry. Definitely devastated.
"I felt like I was going to cry all morning."
The company secrets were contained in emails between Spiegel and Sony Pictures executive Michael Lynton, also a Snapchat boardmember, which were included in the GOP hackers' latest batch of email leaks from the film studio.
They include financial information, proposed ideas and unannounced acquisitions made by the picture message app, including its acquisition of Vergence Labs, an eyewear technology firm.
I shared this with our team today and I wanted to share it with our partners and friends bc I think it's important. pic.twitter.com/eN5HpAhp42Evan Spiegel (@evanspiegel) December 17, 2014
Spiegel told staff: "I am so sorry that our work has been violated and exposed.It's not fair that the people who try to build us up and break us down get a glimpse of who we really are.
"When we're done being mad and angry and upset we're going to keep doing exactly what we are doing. And then we're going to do it ten times better."
The hack comes after cyber criminals managed toleak 100,000 private Snapchat pictures in Octoberafter accessing them via third-party service. Users thought the pictures had been deleted.
The GOP hackers have so far prompted Sony to cancel the release of Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy The Interview, the plot of which centres around an assassination attempt against North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.
The leaks coming out of Sony have also revealed bitter emails between film executives and insults aimed at movie star Angelina Jolie.
