Pirates. Swashbuckling, menacing, deceiving pirates. In a sequence of coincidences, a hacker group has stolen the upcoming addition to the 'Pirates' franchise, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales', and is holding it for ransom in a threat to release it online before it's theatrical release – which would cost the connected studios millions.
The term known as 'pirating' has been around for as long as movies have been shown in cinemas. Only recently (in the past 20 years) have problems arisen involving the internet and Cyber attacks.
What happened?
Disney CEO Bob Iger released the information to a crowd of ABC employees on Monday. He stated that the hackers had gained control over a copy of the film and are threatening to release the film in 20-minute segments, and they won't stop until they receive a sizable ransom payout paid completely in Bitcoin.
Disney is reportedly working with federal investigators to resolve the problem as fast as possible. This attack could be related to the recent 'WannaCry' attacks, causing widespread panic and acquisition across the world.
A history of Korean cyber attacks
This isn't the first time Hollywood releases have been attacked by Korean hackers. the 2014 film 'The Interview', about an assassination attempt on North Korea's supreme leader, was halted by a group of hackers using a computer chock-full of Korean dialect: suggesting either Korean activists or the North Korean government had a part in it.
This month has seen some devastating cyber attacks. Just last week, the British National Health Service was attacked and paralyzed for several days, before British blog poster known as 'MalwareTech' found the 'cure' and hit the kill switch on the attack, saving the NHS millions. Experts are now claiming that North Korea was connected heavily to the NHS attacks as the same Korean code can be seen in both these attacks and in the 2014 'Interview' attacks.
When will it end?
Europol, the European law enforcement agency, says that the attacks are only going to escalate as the working week begins. With the recent attacks on Disney still unresolved, the plot will only thicken.
Remember, this all occurred in the middle of a terrifying cold-war-esque battle of wits between Trump's USA and Jong- un's North Korea, so it is highly unlikely to be resolved in a matter of days.
So don't turn off your firewall's yet, people. The cyber attacks are said to just be beginning.
