Disney investigating massive leak of internal messages

Disney has confirmed it is investigating an apparent leak of internal messages by a hacking group, which claims it is “protecting artists’ rights”.

The group, Nullbulge, said it had gained access to thousands of communications from Disney employees and had downloaded “every file possible”.

It is not clear how commercially sensitive the information is for the media and theme park giant, but it is reported to include messages about upcoming projects the firm is working on.

“Disney is investigating this matter,” a company spokesperson told the BBC in an email.

Nullbulge’s website says the group targets anyone it believes is harming the creative industry by using content generated by artificial intelligence (AI), which it describes as “theft”.

The BBC has made contact with the hackers who claim to be in Russia and say they got into Disney’s internal Slack messaging system through an insider.

But when asked for a sample of the stolen data to verify its authenticity, the hackers did not respond – meaning the BBC has not been able to independently assess if the huge data trove is genuine.

“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 claimed.

They said they released the data because they didn’t expect Disney to meet their demands to stop using AI.

It is unusual for hackers to claim they are “Russian hacktivists” with an ethical agenda – most cyber criminals, including those in Russia, aim to make money by extorting their victims.