The Wikileaks (and Anonymous) release of Stratfor’s emails must have been a huge blow to the company. How do you handle such a PR nightmare? Insist that Wikileaks is personally attacking your company.

Stratfor issued a public statement today regarding the Wikileaks release of their emails last night. In it, they say that “thieves compromised Stratfor’s data systems and stole a large number of company emails, along with other private information of Stratfor readers, subscribers and employees.” They go on to say that the actions of Wikileaks is a “deplorable, unfortunate – and illegal – breach of privacy.”

In what may be an attempt to distance themselves from any content that is contained in the emails, they claim that Wikileaks may alter the emails, or they may be authentic. They won’t validate either, because they will feel victimized again if they submit to questioning.

They go on to assure their customers that this release is from last year’s hack. There has not been a new hack and they are working on restoring their systems to a secure and protected state.

The company claims to have done nothing wrong and feels that the leak is a direct attack on their company. They, however, will not be silenced and will continue to “publish the geopolitical analysis our friends and subscribers have to come to rely upon.”

For those who are going to peruse the leaked emails anyway, the company urges readers to take the emails as they are – casual conversation between people and nothing more.

The company also understands that the leak creates “serious difficulties” for their “subscribers, friends and employees.” They thank everybody for their continued loyalty as they work through what is likely to be a huge PR nightmare for the company.

They end the statement by saying that they are “committed to recovering from the hack and rebuilding trust with the public.” They don’t intend to let this keep them down as they will continue their work of producing and publishing “industry-leading analysis of international affairs.”

What do you think? Do you think Wikileaks would intentionally alter emails to paint Stratfor in a bad light? Or are they just trying to discredit whatever people find in the emails? Let us know in the comments.