What is a 'sophisticated attack?'

What is common to majority of the big names getting hacked recently? They all claim they were victims of a "sophisticated attack".

Here is an article that breaks down this PR's default statement.

The truth, however, is that these attacks seem sophisticated only when you compare them to the unsophisticated security programs that fail to defend against them.

It always sounds like an attempt to forgive the victim for having insufficient protection, detection and reaction capabilities in place, both technical and nontechnical.