Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger
Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said hackers claim to have stolen an unreleased film and are threatening to distribute it online if they aren’t paid a ransom. The company is declining to do so.
Iger made the comments Monday in a town-hall meeting with ABC staff before the network’s fall season presentation to advertisers Tuesday in New York. A Disney spokesman declined to comment on the threat.
The alleged extortion attempt to a string of cybercrimes that are rattling industries from financial services to health care. Last week cyberattackers infected more than 200,000 computers around the world with so-called ransomware, encrypting their files and demanding payment to release the data. Hospitals in the U.K. were among the targets of what one government official there called the “biggest criminal cyberattack in history.”
The threat received by Disney is similar to one encountered last month by Netflix Inc., in which hackers stole unreleased episodes of the company’s hit “Orange is the New Black.” Netflix declined to pay any ransom and the shows were leaked online. Variety and other outlets reported that hackers apparently obtained the show through a breach at a post-production company.
