Posted on May 2, 2017 at 1:36 PM

Hacker Leaks Episodes from Netflix Show and Threatens Other Networks

This Saturday, an unknown hacker has shared the entire season of Netflix’s ‘Orange is the New Black’ after they failed to meet the hackers requests for ransom. The hacker claims to possess shows from several networks, however, only this one show from Netflix was leaked so far.

Apparently, the hacker managed to steal the episodes from the Larson Studios, a post-production company that’ popular for their digital mixing service. This hacker who calls themselves ‘thedarkoverlord’ claims to be in possession of content stolen from Fox, ABC, IFC and even the National Geographic, and all of the content is still unreleased. It also appeared that the FBI was aware of the episodes at Larsen Studios back in January, but they didn’t start warning the companies about it until a month ago.

Who is next on the list? FOX, IFC, NAT GEO, and ABC. Oh, what fun we're all going to have. We're not playing any games anymore.

— thedarkoverlord (@tdohack3r) April 29, 2017

The hacker made a statement

The hacker has said on Twitter that the shows belonging to other networks will be released next, and that “We’re not playing any games anymore.”

So far, Netflix has planned to release the show’s Season 5 on June 9, and it’s not yet clear whether the date will be moved up due to this leak or not.

In their official statement, Netflix has said that “We are aware of the situation. A production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved.”

These ransomware attacks are not a new thing, and this was only the latest example of the thefts made by cyber criminals. The problem continues to develop, and since the malware and ransomware are becoming more and more advanced and sophisticated, the increase in the number of attacks was noticed as well. These hackers would lock your device’s content and wouldn’t give it back unless you paid the price. Sometimes, they would demand hundreds, or maybe even thousands of Bitcoins or they would simply steal your data and threaten to release it if you don’t pay.

The statistics have proven that this increase is a real thing, and during 2016, there were 50% more attacks than in the year before.

This breach, as well as many others that are similar to this one, were possible because of the poor security of the companies that are cooperating with Netflix and other networks involved. Even though Fox and Netflix own state-of-the-art security systems, the same cannot be said for the companies they work with.

Hacker criticised and insulted

This breach seems to have occurred a while ago since the hacker only has 10 of the 13 episodes, which means that the last 3 probably weren’t even finished when the breach happened. The first episode was released on Friday, and the rest of them on Saturday and the hacker even criticized Netflix for not paying and continued to insult the network by saying “We’re quite ashamed to breathe the same air as you. We figured a pragmatic business such as yourselves would see and understand the benefits of cooperating with a reasonable and merciful entity like ourselves.”

The hacker continued to threaten other studios and demand payment, otherwise, the stolen content would be released just like it happened with Netflix. The studios refused to comment, at least when it comes to Fox, ABC, and IFC, while the message that was sent to National Geographic wasn’t immediately returned.

This hacker has appeared before, in several different attacks, every time demanding payment in Bitcoin and not getting it. They also claimed the have made a breach of three healthcare companies in the US and tried to sell their data on the dark web website called TheRealDeal.