Hacker group claims it leaked internal Disney Slack messages over AI concerns

New York (CNN) — An activist hacking group claimed it leaked thousands of Disney’s internal messaging channels, which included information about unreleased projects, raw images computer codes and some logins.

Nullbulge, the “hacktivist group,” claimed responsibility for the breach and said they leaked a gigantic, roughly 1.2 terabytes of information from Disney’s Slack, a communications software. In an email on Monday to CNN, the group claimed it gained access through “a man with Slack access who had cookies.” The email also claimed the group was based out of Russia.

“The user was aware we had them, he tried to kick us out once but let us walk right back in before the second time,” the email said.

CNN could not independently verify the claims.

In a statement Monday, Disney said it “is investigating this matter.” Disney’s entertainment monolith stretches across a vast range of divisions and companies, from ESPN to Hulu and Disney+ to ABC News.

The group also stated that it wants to protect artists’ rights and compensation for their work, especially in the age of artificial intelligence.

“Disney was our target due to how it handles artist contracts, its approach to AI, and its pretty blatant disregard for the consumer,” the hacking group said over email.

Nullbulge had been hinting at the giant release for the past few weeks on its social media. For example, in June the group posted on X what appears to be visitor, booking and revenue data at Disneyland Paris.

Artificial intelligence was a major sticking point in negotiations during Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America strikes. Writers are concerned ChatGPT can write scripts instead of them, while actors fear that computer-generated imagery, or CGI, can wholly replace them.

The hackers said they leaked the data because making demands of Disney would be futile.

“If we said ‘Hello Disney, we have all your slack data’ they would instantly lock down and try to take us out. In a duel, you better fire first,” the email said.

In 2014, a megahack at Sony Pictures linked to North Korea led to an international crisis, exposing emails from company executives, celebrity aliases, social security numbers and entire movie scripts.

CNN’s Erika Tulfo and Jon Passantino contributed to this report.

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