Federal agents warned U.S. businesses that a destructive cyber attack has been launched by hackers using malicious software, following last week's breach at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Cybersecurity experts with the FBI said the malicious software described appears to be the kind involved in the case with Sony, marking the first major destructive cyber attack waged on U.S. soil.

Similar attacks have been launched in Asia and the Middle East, but never has there been a case reported in America. The FBI report did not disclose how many companies were victims in the hacking attacks.

"I believe the coordinated cyber attack with destructive payloads against a corporation in the U.S. represents a watershed event," Tom Kellermann, chief cybersecurity officer at software maker Trend Micro Inc., said. "Geopolitics now serve as harbingers for destructive cyber attacks."

The five-page "flash" warning from the FBI provided businesses with some technical details about the malicious software used in the attack. Monday's issued brief also had some advice on how to respond to the malware and contact the FBI should they encounter it. According to the document, this particular malware overrides all hard drive data on computers, including the master boot record, which prevents them from booting up.

"The overwriting of the data files will make it extremely difficult and costly, if not impossible, to recover the data using standard forensic methods," the report read.

The FBI released the document in the following days after the Sony Pictures Entertainment breach, which brought down corporate email systems down last Monday for a whole week and disrupted other internal systems during preparations for the hectic and crucial holiday movie season. A spokeswoman from Sony said the company had "restored a number of important services" and is currently "working closely with law enforcement officials to investigate the matter." However, she declined to comment on the FBI warning to businesses.