I think the reason why this is significant is not so much that the proprietary files were leaked, rather the amount and breadth of personal information exposed along with the insinuation that this company's network (who maintains large amounts of personal data of unwitting participants) is not secure.

I bet a little digging and we will discover that this network was hopelessly undefended and their software is horribly riddled with holes and poor security practices.

It was obviously done to impact the company as an entity rather than to target individuals or the government. It's quite obvious, to me, that the attackers wanted to dump a large liability in someones lap and perhaps for good reason. If this company can't secure the data it collects about innocent civilians then it shouldn't be allowed to collect it.