6 ms·

Can someone explain why hackers dump the files publicly rather than just tell the victim they got access? What's the point?

beeboobaa3 2y ago
techno-anarchism
thegrim33 2y ago
If you read the article, the answer to your question is in the fourth sentence. There's even an entire section under the headline "Who, Why, and How" that goes into motives.
walterbell 2y ago
https://www.csoonline.com/article/565048/what-hackers-do-their-motivations-and-their-malware.html https://www.csoonline.com/article/565048/what-hackers-do-the... Financial motivations Nation-state sponsored/cyberwarfare Corporate espionage Hackivists Resource theft Gamer issues Financial theft and nation-state attacks are easily the largest portion of cybercrime. Decades ago, the lone, solitary youth hacker powered by junk food was an adequate representation of the average hacker. They were interested in showing themselves and others that they could hack something or create interesting malware. Rarely did they do real harm. Today, most hackers belong to professional groups, which are motivated by taking something of value, and often causing significant harm. The malware they use is designed to be covert as possible and to take as much of something of value as is possible before discovery.
- guerrilla 2y ago
  You missed non-state political motivations. There are plenty of revolutionaries and so-called terrorists around. It appears that this is actually the case here, as it's supposedly about artist's rights.
  - walterbell 2y ago
    > non-state political motivations "hacktivists"?
- johndhi 2y ago
  if you're trying to steal, wouldn't it be best NOT to publicly dump it, and just quietly use the breached material?
vondur 2y ago
Some people just like to watch the world burn?
- rexpop 2y ago
  Disney is a cultural slash-and-burn enterprise, themselves.
- johndhi 2y ago
  this is the main explanation that makes sense to me
kjkjadksj 2y ago
Maybe they shorted the stock.
- nerdponx 2y ago
  Bad move unless they're actively day trading. This won't have any serious effect on Disney stock.
KennyBlanken 2y ago
The motto of the group that leaked it is "A hacktivist group protecting artists' rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work", so my guess is that they're trying to give the press and researchers a look at what goes into the sausage, because the industry abuses the hell out of creative talent. One question is whether there is one massive slack, or multiple different ones. I'd certainly hope that sensitive stuff is limited to a separate slack, for extra insulation. They mention a name, and a google search shows that person works in Disney IT, so maybe their credentials were leaked and they had admin access to the slack. In that case, relying on slack permissions to limit the scope of a breach isn't really going to work.
- coldcode 2y ago
  There isn't a single slack instance, nor is there a single IT organization. Disney is a huge company with many mostly autonomous divisions. I highly doubt they took everything as it would not be all in one place. I presume given the message it was likely the folks making movies or Disney+, not Parks. Of course, it could also be something much more benign.
soupbowl 2y ago
Disney pissed off a lot of fans of marvel, starwars and most IPs they recently bought. The hackers dump the files publicly to be mined to shaming Disney. Maybe...
- houseplant 2y ago
  they themselves said why: Disney is responsible for cancelling, burying, and destroying the records of a lot of shows that fans seem to really love. TAG, the largest animation union, has been raising awareness of extremely unfair treatment of the creative side of Disney and other companies for a while now, how years of their hard creative work has been squatted on without ever seeing the light of day. apparently, the hackers don't really seem to consult the artists they're purportedly trying to help by doing this, because none of them want to see their work leaked like this. I think these hackers just selfishly want to see the materials behind cancelled shows they were looking forward to.
ranger_danger 2y ago
Interesting logic... what's the point of "just telling them"?
- johndhi 2y ago
  well, there are a few things you could do short of publicly dumping a ton of private information to achieve the same or similar goals: -publicly announce that you've breached X amount of data, and provide hashes of the files and tell the breached entity to confirm the hashes are accurate otherwise you'll publicly dump; -publicly prove you've accessed the files in a way that requires breach notification laws to be triggered -- so the company is forced to post embarrassing announcements but the actual risk to the underlying people in the dataset is reduced what I don't understand is why you have to screw over all of the little people and individuals by just making everything public.
  - ranger_danger 2y ago
    > same or similar goals How do you know what their goals are?

beeboobaa3 2y ago

techno-anarchism

thegrim33 2y ago

If you read the article, the answer to your question is in the fourth sentence. There's even an entire section under the headline "Who, Why, and How" that goes into motives.

walterbell 2y ago

https://www.csoonline.com/article/565048/what-hackers-do-their-motivations-and-their-malware.html https://www.csoonline.com/article/565048/what-hackers-do-the... Financial motivations Nation-state sponsored/cyberwarfare Corporate espionage Hackivists Resource theft Gamer issues Financial theft and nation-state attacks are easily the largest portion of cybercrime. Decades ago, the lone, solitary youth hacker powered by junk food was an adequate representation of the average hacker. They were interested in showing themselves and others that they could hack something or create interesting malware. Rarely did they do real harm. Today, most hackers belong to professional groups, which are motivated by taking something of value, and often causing significant harm. The malware they use is designed to be covert as possible and to take as much of something of value as is possible before discovery.

guerrilla 2y ago
You missed non-state political motivations. There are plenty of revolutionaries and so-called terrorists around. It appears that this is actually the case here, as it's supposedly about artist's rights.
- walterbell 2y ago
  > non-state political motivations "hacktivists"?
johndhi 2y ago
if you're trying to steal, wouldn't it be best NOT to publicly dump it, and just quietly use the breached material?

vondur 2y ago

Some people just like to watch the world burn?

rexpop 2y ago
Disney is a cultural slash-and-burn enterprise, themselves.
johndhi 2y ago
this is the main explanation that makes sense to me

kjkjadksj 2y ago

Maybe they shorted the stock.

nerdponx 2y ago
Bad move unless they're actively day trading. This won't have any serious effect on Disney stock.

KennyBlanken 2y ago

The motto of the group that leaked it is "A hacktivist group protecting artists' rights and ensuring fair compensation for their work", so my guess is that they're trying to give the press and researchers a look at what goes into the sausage, because the industry abuses the hell out of creative talent. One question is whether there is one massive slack, or multiple different ones. I'd certainly hope that sensitive stuff is limited to a separate slack, for extra insulation. They mention a name, and a google search shows that person works in Disney IT, so maybe their credentials were leaked and they had admin access to the slack. In that case, relying on slack permissions to limit the scope of a breach isn't really going to work.

coldcode 2y ago
There isn't a single slack instance, nor is there a single IT organization. Disney is a huge company with many mostly autonomous divisions. I highly doubt they took everything as it would not be all in one place. I presume given the message it was likely the folks making movies or Disney+, not Parks. Of course, it could also be something much more benign.

soupbowl 2y ago

Disney pissed off a lot of fans of marvel, starwars and most IPs they recently bought. The hackers dump the files publicly to be mined to shaming Disney. Maybe...

houseplant 2y ago
they themselves said why: Disney is responsible for cancelling, burying, and destroying the records of a lot of shows that fans seem to really love. TAG, the largest animation union, has been raising awareness of extremely unfair treatment of the creative side of Disney and other companies for a while now, how years of their hard creative work has been squatted on without ever seeing the light of day. apparently, the hackers don't really seem to consult the artists they're purportedly trying to help by doing this, because none of them want to see their work leaked like this. I think these hackers just selfishly want to see the materials behind cancelled shows they were looking forward to.

ranger_danger 2y ago

Interesting logic... what's the point of "just telling them"?

johndhi 2y ago
well, there are a few things you could do short of publicly dumping a ton of private information to achieve the same or similar goals: -publicly announce that you've breached X amount of data, and provide hashes of the files and tell the breached entity to confirm the hashes are accurate otherwise you'll publicly dump; -publicly prove you've accessed the files in a way that requires breach notification laws to be triggered -- so the company is forced to post embarrassing announcements but the actual risk to the underlying people in the dataset is reduced what I don't understand is why you have to screw over all of the little people and individuals by just making everything public.
- ranger_danger 2y ago
  > same or similar goals How do you know what their goals are?