The Niagara Falls Review

Holding Netflix ransom

Hacker claims release of stolen copies of Netflix series hit series Orange Is The New Black

- MICHAEL LIEDTKE The New Black. Orange Is Orange Orange

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO — A hacker claims to have followed through on a threat to release several episodes from the upcoming season of Netflix’s hit series

The hacker, who goes by the name The Dark Overlord, announced the move on Twitter early Saturday. The post included a link to an illegal file-sharing service where purportedl­y 10 episodes from the series’ upcoming fifth season were available for download. The Associated Press could not legally confirm the authentici­ty of the uploaded files.

New episodes of are scheduled for official release on June 9. Pirated copies of the series’ episodes could dent Netflix’s subscriber growth and the company’s stock price. A spokeswoma­n for the video streaming service declined to comment on the release of the episodes Saturday.

Earlier, Netflix said that a small production vendor that works with several major TV studios suffered a breach. The Los Gatos, Calif., company described it as an “active situation” that’s being investigat­ed by the FBI and other authoritie­s.

The Dark Overlord had been demanding that Netflix pay an unspecifie­d ransom in exchange for not releasing the episodes prematurel­y online. In a statement online Saturday, the hacker noted that Netflix had remained “unresponsi­ve” to the ransom request.

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

The hacker claims to have stolen other series from Netflix and other studios, including ABC, National Geographic and Fox. The Dark Overlord promised to also release titles from those other networks unless “modest” ransoms are paid.

Rumours of a massive leak of Hollywood films and TV episodes have been circulatin­g online for months, fed by purported screenshot­s of the footage and a copy of a proposed deal to delete the stolen material in return for tens of thousands of dollars in electronic currency.

When the AP contacted The Dark Overlord in February, the hacker said the purloined video wouldn’t be made publicly available after all, making the farfetched claim that “no one really (cares) about unreleased movies and TV show episodes.”

It’s not clear what triggered The Dark Overload’s renewed ransom demands.

Netflix is counting on to help it add 3.2 million subscriber­s from April through June. That’s substantia­lly higher than the company’s average gain of 1.8 million subscriber­s in the same period over the past five years.

Whenever Netflix’s quarterly subscriber gains fall short of management’s projection­s, the company’s stock usually plunges.

 ?? SCOTT ROTH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES ?? Laverne Cox attends the Orange Is the New Black FYC Screening at DGA Theater in New York. A hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming season of Netflix’s hit series Orange Is The New Black and is demanding that the video streaming service pay an...
SCOTT ROTH/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES Laverne Cox attends the Orange Is the New Black FYC Screening at DGA Theater in New York. A hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming season of Netflix’s hit series Orange Is The New Black and is demanding that the video streaming service pay an...

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