On the one hand, it would be nice. Enrons e-mail data dumps have been used to this effect for the past decade, especially to show proof of technologies.

On the other hand the Sony data dump, like previous data dumps on Wikileaks, was illegally obtained. Researchers analyzing and publishing it would be putting themselves at legal risk by doing so.

Illegaly obtnaied data is kind of a silly thing. If it's out there and it's real does it really matter how it was obtained? Does it affect the data validity? Why wouldn't people be able to analyse it? Nobody could go to jail because of it, after all. To make it illegal to analyse it and disclose the findings is really silly.

[Fruit of the poisonous tree]

Like I said, nobody would go to jail because of the data, even when everybody knows it is the real deal. But to prosecute people who analyse the data and publish the findings is going too far, IMO. Nobody is( or should be) prosecuting journalists for publishing the same kind of data, the same goes for everybody else.