25 Year Old Man Pleads Guilty in Hacking of Disney Slack Case
The leak revealed Genie+ earnings, streaming revenue, over 18,000 spreadsheets and 13,000 PDFs.
A 25 year-old man has pleaded guilty in the hacking case that saw 1.1TB of confidential data from The Walt Disney Company leaked from private Slack channels last year.
What’s Happening:
- A Santa Clarita man has agreed to plead guilty to hacking the personal computer of an employee of The Walt Disney Company last year, obtaining login information, and using that information to illegally download confidential data via the employee’s Slack online communications account.
- Ryan Mitchell Kramer, 25, has agreed to plead guilty, charging him with one count of accessing a computer and obtaining information and one count of threatening to damage a protected computer.
- In addition to the information, prosecutors today filed a plea agreement in which Kramer agreed to plead guilty to the two felony charges, which each carry a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
- Devotees may remember the story from last year, but we are getting more clarity on what happened thanks to his plea agreement.
- According to the agreement, it was in early 2024 when Kramer posted a computer program on various online platforms, including GitHub, that purported to be a computer program that could be used to create A.I.-generated art. However, the program contained a malicious file that enabled Kramer to gain access to victims’ computers.
- Sometime in April and May of 2024, a victim downloaded the malicious file, giving Kramer access to their personal computer, including an online account where the victim stored login credentials and passwords for personal and work accounts.
- Using this information, Kramer accessed a Slack account that the victim, a Disney employee, used, gaining access to private Disney Slack channels. In May 2024, Kramer downloaded approximately 1.1 terabytes of confidential data from thousands of Disney Slack channels.
- In July 2024, Kramer contacted the victim via email and Discord, pretending to be a member of a fake Russia-based hacktivist group called “NullBulge." The emails and Discord message contained threats to leak the victim’s personal information and Disney’s Slack data.
- On July 12, 2024, after the victim did not respond to Kramer’s threats, Kramer publicly released the stolen Disney Slack files, as well as the victim’s bank, medical, and personal information on multiple online platforms.
- Kramer admitted in his plea agreement that, in addition to the victim, at least two other victims downloaded Kramer’s malicious file, and that Kramer was able to gain unauthorized access to their computers and accounts.
- Kramer is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles in the coming weeks.
Laughing Place recommends MouseFanTravel.com for all your Disney travel planning
Fill out the form below for a free, no obligation quote from MouseFanTravel.com