Disney is looking into a claim by a hacker group that it's stolen 1.2TB of internal data from the company's Slack channels, including information about upcoming projects, ad campaigns, company logins, and more.
“Disney is investigating this matter,” a company spokesperson said in a brief statement to THR on Monday. IGN has reached out to Disney for further comment.
As reported by the Wall Street Journal earlier on Monday, a hacker group calling itself Nullbulge said in a blog post that it had published thousands of messages from Disney's internal Slack channels. The hackers say that the data they've collected spans "10,000 channels, every message and file possible," including "unreleased projects, raw images and code, some logins, links to internal api/web pages, and more."
The contents from those messages have already started to make the rounds online, including alleged details about a sequel to Aliens Fireteam Elite (via Eurogamer) and a Fortnite x Disney collaboration (via Sports Illustrated).
Nullbulge calls itself a "hacktivist group," and claims that it's focused on “protecting artists’ rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work." The group told WSJ that it targeted Disney “due to how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and it’s [sic] pretty blatant disregard for the consumer.” It added that it went directly to releasing data, rather than making threats, because it felt Disney would "instantly lock down" if made aware of the hack.
If confirmed to be authentic, Disney would only be the latest company to be subject to a major cyberattack. Late last year, Insomniac Games had a number of unannounced projects and a large amount of internal data published online by a ransomware group after Sony reportedly refused to meet their demands. A hacker last year also released dozens of in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 clips, apparently by accessing Rockstar's internal systems, and was sentenced to indefinite imprisonment in a secure hospital.
Film and television has been slightly less susceptible to widespread hacks, barring the massive, industry-rocking one of Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2014. Other entertainment-adjacent companies, including Roku, Ticketmaster, and AT&T, have also been the victims of recent cyberattacks.
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Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
