‘Hacktivists’ steal 1TB of data from Disney’s Slack channels: report

A massive amount of data from Disney’s Slack workplace channels has been leaked online.

Per The Wall Street Journal, the leaked files include internal Disney information related to upcoming projects, interview candidates and studio technology, among other data. In response to the leak, an anonymous hacker group known as Nullbulge claimed responsibility on its blog for hacking Disney and publishing roughly 1.1TB of data from the entertainment giant.

Nullbulge refers to itself as a Russian “hacktivist group protecting artists’ rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work.” With respect to Disney, Nullbulge criticized the company over “how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and its pretty blatant disregard for the consumer.” Nullbulge went on to say that its “attack has only just started” and that it has many more of Disney’s files to release.

Of course, there’s no way to verify whether Nullbulge is a supposed “hacktivist” group in the spirit of Anonymous or simply some dark web dweller getting a kick out of this. For now, Disney told BBC News that it’s “investigating the matter,” but declined to comment any further.

Regardless of its intentions, Nullbulge does bring up valid issues. In particular, concerns over artist contracts and AI were front and centre during last year’s major Hollywood strikes in which Disney played a key part. Over the months-long strike, both writers and actors called for greater protection against the use of their work and likeness in AI models, among other demands.

According to Reuters, Disney even launched an AI task force prior to last year’s strikes to research potential use cases for the technology. Disney was also criticized last year for its use of AI in the opening credits scene of Marvel’s Secret Invasion series and digital background characters among human extras in an audience in the film Prom Pact.

Source: The Wall Street Journal Via: BBC News