Hackers Target Hollywood Vendors

Netflix and Walt Disney Co. were both recently the victim of hackers, who are increasingly targeting third-party vendors that do work for major Hollywood studios, and then holding the content they gain access to for a ransom. Netflix’s series, “Orange Is the New Black” was hacked via a production vendor that works with other TV studios, and Disney CEO Bob Iger told employees that one of the studio’s films had been stolen and was being held for a ransom. Cybersecurity experts warned that studios need to better manage the network security of third-party companies. Studios “need to have visibility into the info ecosystems of their partners. They need to look at what their partners’ networks are like,” said Alexander Heid, chief research officer at Security Scorecard, told the Los Angeles Times.

The recent cyber attacks are a reminder of the 2014 hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment that roiled the industry. Cyber thieves are “seizing the content and instead of just uploading it, they’re contacting the studios and asking for a ransom,” Dean Marks, head of the Motion Picture Association of America’s content protection division, told the Times. “That is a pretty recent phenomenon.” It was the fifth-most common tactic used by hackers last year, according to a Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report. “It’s scary,” said one unnamed studio executive. “It could happen to any one of us.”