The fifth season of the series "Orange is the new black" was released online after Netflix refused to pay the blackmail of a hacker
If the story did not see it involved in the forefront, Netflix could even decide to shoot a TV series starring the alleged hacker Thedarkoverlord. The hacker, in fact, after managing to purloin the fifth season of the TV series "Orange is the new black", made by Netflix, threatened the US company to publish it online unless he paid a ransom.
After Netflix's refusal, the hacker kept his promise and released online the first 10 episodes (out of a total of 13) of the fifth season of the TV series, which would be back on the streaming video platform on June 9. A blow for Netflix, which confirmed the theft and admitted that the episodes released are really those of the fifth season of "Orange is the new black". The TV series is one of Netflix's most popular products and there were millions of fans who were waiting for the new episodes. But Netflix is not the only one to have been blackmailed: in fact, the hacker Thedarkoverlord has published a threatening tweet in which he claims to have the episodes also of TV series of other TV channels: Abc, Fox, National Geographic.
How the theft happened
Netflix has also explained how the theft happened. The hacker, towards the end of last year would have attacked the servers of the post-production studio Larson Studios and would have managed to get hold of dozens of episodes of several TV series. After the hacker had succeeded in carrying out the attack, he started threatening the streaming video platform, which, however, did not give in and did not pay the ransom. At that point, Thedarkoverlord decided to publish the first ten episodes.
The FBI has also taken an interest in the case and is analyzing the traces left online by the hacker, hoping to be able to identify the wrongdoer. The attack highlights once again that companies' security systems are still not up to the level of hackers and that without a serious effort from an investment standpoint, hackers will continue to make money on the backs of companies and users.