A California Man Has Pled Guilty To Hacking Disney’s Slack Channels Last Year
The Walt Disney Company was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons last year when its Slack channels were breached, reportedly by a group of hackers called NullBulge.
The Wall Street Journal examined the nearly 40,000 stolen documents and found that information, including Genie+ sales, company pricing, and Disney+ streaming revenue, was leaked.
“Disney was our target due to how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and its pretty blatant disregard for the consumer,” the hackers told the publication.
Photo: CNBC
A Headache For Disney
According to Variety, the stolen communications also included “conversations about maintaining Disney’s corporate website, software development, assessments of candidates for employment, programs for emerging leaders within ESPN, and photos of employees’ dogs, with data stretching back to at least 2019.”
Photo: Disney
While Disney was not dramatically affected by the leak, the company did cease using Slack. If nothing else, it was a headache for the Mouse House.
The Real Hacker
As it turns out, Disney was not hacked last year by the Russia-based hacktivist group NullBulge but by Ryan Mitchell Kramer of California.
Today, Kramer pleaded guilty to two charges related to “illegally breaking into a computer system to access information.”
Photo: Miriam-Webster
Both charges carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
How Kramer Accessed the Data
According to court documents, Kramer was able to hack into Disney’s Slack after an employee downloaded AI software with malware. The mistake allowed Kramer to access an online account where the Disney employee stored usernames and passwords.
Using this stolen information, Kramer could download the confidential information from Disney’s Slack channels. Thankfully, however, he could only get data from the channels that the hacked employee had access to.
Walt Disney Company
After pilfering the data, Kramer contacted the employee and pretended to be affiliated with NullBulge.
Disney’s Response
Following Kramer’s guilty plea, Disney released a brief statement.
“We are pleased that this individual has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges,” they said. “We remain committed to working closely with law enforcement, as we did in this case, to ensure that cybercriminals are brought to justice.”
Photo: Disney
Thus ends a strange chapter in Disney history.
