FBI Investigation: Hackers Leak Popular Netflix Series; Claims Fox, ABC Shows Next

Netflix

A group of hackers, known as The Dark Overlord (TDO), have leaked all ten episodes of the upcoming season of the Netflix hit series Orange Is the New Black after the streaming giant refused to meet the group’s ransom demands.

The hackers had demanded an undisclosed ransom from Netflix, Variety reports, in exchange for a promise not to upload the popular prison drama on the file-sharing site, The Pirate Bay, ahead of its world premiere on  June 9.

However, Netflix refused to meet TDO’s ransom.

“It didn’t have to be this way, Netflix. You’re going to lose a lot more money in all of this than what our modest offer was,” the hackers wrote in a message posted on Pastebin. “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.”

Netflix said it is aware of the hack and online leaks and seemed to blame the breach on a “production vendor.”

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

According to the Associated Press, the FBI is among the law enforcement authorities already investigating the cybercrime.

However, the hacker group said it has also obtained unreleased shows from major networks, including Fox, ABC, National Geographic, and IFC:

https://twitter.com/tdohack3r/status/858152416008577024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ibtimes.co.uk%2Fafter-holding-netflix-hostage-hacker-group-claims-fox-national-geographic-ifc-abc-next-their-1619254

“We’re not quite done yet, though. We’re calling you out: ABC, National Geographic, Fox, IFC, and of course Netflix, still,” TDO wrote, adding, “There’s more Netflix on the feasting menu soon (in addition to the other studios, of course), but we’ll get to that later.”

The group has issued stern warnings to major studios, assuring them they may share Netflix’s fate if they do not pay a “modest sum of internet money.”

“Now, because we punish in a pervasive guilty-by-association manner, other companies in the American entertainment industry shouldn’t be surprised if they were too [sic] wake up to a verbose, condescending, and abusive letter in their inbox extending a hand of friendship and (most likely) demanding a modest sum of internet money,” the hackers wrote.

The group claims to have episodes from other popular films and TV series, including Celebrity Apprentice, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and NCIS Los Angeles. 

Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson.

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