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Hackers have obtained a copy of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and are threatening to release portions of it unless Disney pays a Bitcoin ransom:
Although Iger did not mention the movie by name during the meeting, Deadline reports that it's a copy of 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.'
[...] The "ransom" demand from the hacker is reminiscent of another prominent entertainment industry leak, where the requested amount of Bitcoin was not paid. Just a few weeks ago a group calling itself TheDarkOverlord (TDO) published the premiere episode of the fifth season of Netflix's Orange is The New Black, followed by nine more episodes a few hours later.
[...] There is no indication that the previous and threatened leaks are related in any way. TorrentFreak has seen a list of movies and TV-shows TDO said they have in their possession, but the upcoming 'Pirates' movie isn't among them.
Disney has refused to pay a ransom and is cooperating with the FBI.
Previously: Claim: Hackers Leak 'Orange is the New Black' after Netflix Did Not Pay Ransom
(Score: 2) by edIII on Tuesday May 16 2017, @10:36PM (2 children)
No. It's not a PR technique. Netflix and others have apparently been using a 3rd party vendor that required access to the entire film to do the work, and was responsible for post processing work. A LOT of data was copied out of their protected networks some time ago, and probably included this.
All of this was coming, and we all knew it. The price to pay for security as an afterthought, is the highwaymen and robbers making their way into your networks and taking whatever is valuable. There is going to be a few years of these ransoms occurring until we shore up our security a hell of a lot more.
Sony was hacked. This vendor was hacked, which exposed Netflix and Disney apparently. There is very much active campaigns by multiple entities to profit from illicit data extractions from billion dollar companies.
If the hackers costs are low, which is likely, they could ask for a small amount like a million or two and make a lot of ROI for their efforts. Meanwhile Disney takes a hit that would amount to fractions of a percent. Win-Win from some perspectives.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by bzipitidoo on Wednesday May 17 2017, @01:25AM
If Disney and the rest of Big Media would pull their heads out of the sand and build up new business models based around patronage, the people behind this ransom demand would have nothing to work with. Disney could just laugh at them.
But because they are still fanatical believers in copyright, and especially in the use of copyright to milk the market by, for instance, charging premiums for early access and waiting a whole year after the theatrical release before allowing rental and purchase of physical media although there is absolutely no valid technical reason for it, they're vulnerable to this sort of thing. Maybe people who want to see this movie sooner ought to start a fund to pay these liberators even more than those Disney blackmailers are being asked.
The FBI, huh? Hey, FBI, how about you stand down from this case, because you're supposed to be working for the people? Or does your big scary badge being plastered on the start of every rental DVD mean you actually work for Big Media, even when it's against the public interest?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday May 17 2017, @01:12PM
If the hackers costs are low, which is likely, they could ask for a small amount like a million or two and make a lot of ROI for their efforts. Meanwhile Disney takes a hit that would amount to fractions of a percent. Win-Win from some perspectives.
Essentially the whole attack is enabled by sitting on the data for months after its "ready" so the very long term effect would be superior project management at the studios. How much money can be extorted off a data theft of a movie released a couple months ago where cam torrents have been up for months? Not much. That would imply that Disney or whatever is so incompetently managed that is cheaper to pay the toll than to improve product management to something more "just in time".
Remember they're not building space ships, or even cars. Quality doesn't matter when the industry standard is sequels and remakes. The professionals creating the product don't want their names attached to a technical stinker but the financiers clearly don't care about creativity or overall quality, so tough nuggets, ship whatever ya got on April 1st or whenever it was ready, then some theft weeks later simply won't matter.