Hackers steal hollywood movie. Demand heavy ransom in bitcoin

It’s a week of cyber-crime.

News  in Hollywood Reporter says that hackers gained access to and stole a Disney movie and are demanding a heavy bitcoin ransom to give it back.

It’s not clear what movie exactly has been stolen, but speculation is it could be Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales or Cars 3. 

Says the publication:

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 Disney chief said the hackers demanded that a huge sum be paid in Bitcoin. They said they would release five minutes of the film at first, and then in 20-minute chunks until their financial demands are met.

The attack on Disney comes after popular streaming service, Netflix, suffered a similar attack just weeks ago when hackers stole Orange is the New Black. The hackers ended up releasing 10 episodes of the popular show online after Netflix refused to pay a ransom.

Just last week, albeit not targeted at a specific organisation, Ransomware spread like wildfire on the internet affecting more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries.

Cyber-attacks are becoming quite common. The attackers usually ask for bitcoin for them to release stolen or locked files. Some high profile targets (such as Netflix and Disney in this case) have refused to pay.

Yesterday, we posted a QnA with a local security expert covering amoung other things, why ransomware is on the rise even here in Zimbabwe, as well as why the attackers choose to use bitcoin.