Pierluigi Paganini
May 16, 2017
Cybercriminals claim have stolen the Walt Disney’s forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean film and are threatening to release it online if the company will not pay the ransom.
CEO Bob Iger, told a town hall meeting of ABC employees, that crooks claimed to have stolen a Disney’s upcoming film and are threatening to release it in segments online unless paid a bitcoin ransom. According to the media the film that has been stolen by the hackers it ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’
“Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed Monday that hackers claiming to have access to a Disney movie threatened to release it unless the studio paid a ransom. Iger didn’t disclose the name of the film, but said Disney is refusing to pay. The studio is working with federal investigators.” reported the Hollywood Reporter.
The cyber criminals have threatened to firstly release five minutes of the movie and then 20-minute segments unless the ransom is paid.
Iger confirmed that his company has refused to pay the crooks and that it is working with the FBI on the case.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth episode of the saga that is set for an official release on May 25th.
The Pirates of the Caribbean series is one of the most profitable Disney sagas, the company fears possible consequences of the data breach.
“The Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise has pulled in a whopping $3.72 billion in worldwide box office since first launching in 2003. It’s not clear how releasing the movie would impact the new film’s fortunes.” reported the Deadline.com.
Disney, as any other movie maker, are a lucrative target for crooks that intend to monetize their efforts by blackmailing the company.
A few days ago, a group of hackers threatened to upload the fifth season of Orange is the New Black online after Netflix refused to pay a ransom.
Back to the present, it is still unclear is hackers have really stolen the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.’
This kind of incident could have a serious impact on the movie makers, according to the Verge a few years ago, Lionsgate’s The Expendables 3 leaked prior to its release caused a flop at the box office.
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(Security Affairs – The Pirates Of The Caribbean, data leak)
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