What's really motivating the Disney hackers?

By Solomon Klappholz for IT PRO
Thursday, July 18, 2024

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One security expert told ITPro the Disney hackers could have ulterior motives despite framing themselves as hacktivist champions in support of content creators.

Experts dubious about Disney hackers’ claimed motivations

Ilia Kolochenko, CEO at ImmuniWeb and adjunct professor at Capital Technology University, said he isn’t convinced the group’s motivations are so noble, suggesting the scale of the attack indicates a larger, financially-motivated organization.

Kolochenko noted that this incident appears to be a “well thought out smokescreen to mask the true identities and real motives” of the group.

“Hacktivists are highly unlikely to run operations of such scale to protect intellectual property and the rights of artists. Moreover, in many jurisdictions, such evidence may be inadmissible in courts and will merely cause embarrassment to Disney if exposed,” he said.

Kolochenko suggested the size of the breach and the type of information involved indicates the attack is more likely to be part of an extortion attempt.

“Given the volume and nature of the reportedly compromised data, it may rather be exploited to blackmail Disney, similar to the notoriously devastating Sony hack. Another plausible reason behind the intrusion is politics and an attempt to censor certain movies, topics or ideas from Disney’s digital content,” he explained.

“This case is a grim reminder for all corporations about the importance of having and invariably enforcing policies relating to data retention, authorized use of Slack, and other corporate messengers, as well as prohibition to discuss certain sensitive topics in potentially insecure environments.” Read Full Article