Report: Disney Data Leaked After Hack of Its Slack System

Disney has reportedly suffered a hack of its Slack system, with data from thousands of the channels of the company’s workplace collaboration system being leaked online.

The data goes back as far as 2019 and includes material ranging from discussions about ad campaigns to assessments of job applicants to photos of employees’ dogs, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Monday (July 15), saying it had viewed the material.

A Disney spokesperson said in the report: “Disney is investigating this matter.”

The material was published by an anonymous hacking group called Nullbulge, though its claims about how much data it has and how it obtained it could not be independently verified, according to the report.

The group has previously used Trojan horse tactics to distribute malicious software, hiding it in free add-ons for games and artificial intelligence (AI) image generation software, the report said.

This reported hack comes about 10 years after another entertainment company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, suffered a massive computer hack that rocked the entertainment world.

In that case, the hackers revealed personal emails between Sony Pictures executives, leaked financial documents, and compromised the personal information of more than 47,000 celebrities, freelancers, and current and former Sony employees.

The hack also comes during what PYMNTS has dubbed “the year of the cyberattack,” following damaging attacks on at least a dozen companies and other organizations.

In the last year, 82% of eCommerce merchants endured cyber or data breaches, with 47% saying the breaches resulted in both lost revenue and lost customers, according to “Fraud Management in Online Transactions,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Nuvei collaboration.

Containing the impact of a single data breach before it can ripple throughout an entire ecosystem is top of mind for banks, FinTechs and businesses alike, PYMNTS reported Thursday (July 11).

When data is compromised, there can be cascading consequences due to the interconnected nature of financial systems. Because the average consumer has multiple financial accounts, and many FinTech platforms link to traditional bank accounts, credit cards and other financial services, a breach in one system can provide access to others, allowing fraudsters to exploit multiple services.