Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has revealed that hackers, who claim to have stolen the access to Disney's movie bank, are demanding ransom from the production giants. They have also threatened to release films online if Disney fails to fulfil their demands.
Iger briefed the press regarding the cyber attack on Monday but refused to reveal the movie's title. He also added that hackers are demanding a large sum of bitcoins.
The federal investigators are analysing the situation. However, they believe the incident has no commotion with the WannaCry ransomware attack that has infected thousands of computers worldwide.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is Disney's upcoming theatrical release followed by Cars 3. Deadline.com opined the film was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the latest instalment of the franchise starring Johnny Depp. It is due to reach theatres on 25 May.
"Hackers have threatened to release the entire title in five-minute snippets and could follow through after Iger vowed that Disney wasn't going to pay. The saga is eerily similar to the recent high-profile leak of Netflix's Orange Is the New Black," news.com reported.
However, Netflix handled the issue with ease and did not budge for the demands. As a result, ten episodes of the still-unreleased fifth season of Orange Is the New Black were released to the public on torrent website Pirate Bay last month. In addition, hackers have also claimed that they have access to at least three dozen TV shows and movies. Investigators are also looking at a possible connection between the two issues.
These issues once again bring back the memories disastrous Sony Pictures hack of 2015—where a group of hackers leaked confidential data, copies of unreleased films, and employee details online.
An in-depth analysis report on The Guardian stated, "Disney is a potentially lucrative target. The Los Angeles-based behemoth is dominating box offices through its core filmmaking studio, nicknamed the Mouse House, as well as Marvel studios and Lucasfilm."
