Hackers Demand Ransom Over Stolen Copy of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5’

Hackers are demanding money from Disney to stop the leaking of a pirate copy of an upcoming film. While Disney CEO Bob Iger didn't mention the movie by name when he announced the news, reports have identified the upcoming 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' as the target.

During a town hall meeting in New York on Monday, Disney CEO Bob Iger informed a group of ABC employees that hackers have stolen one of the company’s movies.

The hackers offered to keep it away from public eyes in exchange for ransom paid in Bitcoin but Disney says it has no intention to pay.

Although Iger did not mention the movie by name during the meeting, Deadline reports that it’s a copy of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.’

The fifth movie in the ‘Pirates‘ franchise starring Johnny Depp, is officially scheduled to appear in theaters next week. Needless to say, a high-quality leak at this point will be seen as a disaster for Disney.

The “ransom” demand from the hacker is reminiscent of another prominent entertainment industry leak, where the requested amount of Bitcoin was not paid.

Just a few weeks ago a group calling itself TheDarkOverlord (TDO) published the premiere episode of the fifth season of Netflix’s Orange is The New Black, followed by nine more episodes a few hours later.

Despite Netflix’s anti-piracy efforts, the ten leaked episodes of Orange is The New Black remain popular on many torrent indexes and pirate streaming sites.

There is no indication that the previous and threatened leaks are related in any way. TorrentFreak has seen a list of movies and TV-shows TDO said they have in their possession, but the upcoming ‘Pirates’ movie isn’t among them.

The Disney hackers have threatened to release the movie in increments, but the movie studio is hoping that they won’t go ahead with their claims.

Thus far there haven’t been any reports of leaked parts of the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film. Disney, meanwhile, is working with the FBI to track down the people responsible for the hack.

Source: Torrentfreak.com