Hackers Holding Disney Movie for Ransom

Disney CEO Bob Iger confirms heist, says company refusing to pay.

May 16, 2017 9:53 am

Hackers are playing the villains in the latest Hollywood drama.

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger announced at a town hall with ABC employees Monday that hackers had contacted the company, saying they were in possession of an upcoming film and would release it if a ransom weren’t paid.

Hackers Holding Disney Movie for Ransom
Disney Chairman and CEO Robert Iger attends the ‘Beauty and the Beast’ New York screening at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on March 13, 2017 in New York City. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)

Per The Hollywood Reporter, it’s unclear which movie is being held for ransom, but it’s likely one of the blockbusters from Disney’s upcoming slate: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Cars 3, or Star Wars: The Last Jedi. (A rumor on the internet concerning the latter, though, was debunked last week.)

The hackers demanded the ransom be paid in Bitcoin, and that they would first release five minutes of the film, and subsequently, 20 additional minutes of the film until the full ransom was paid.

This comes after hackers released the first 10 episodes of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black after a ransom was not met.

News of the blackmail bid also comes in the wake of Friday’s massive ransomware attack that caused major disruptions in 99 countries.

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