Hacker releases Netflix series
A hacker calling himself “The Dark Overlord” claims to have released the first ten episodes of the new season of “Orange Is the New Black,” after Netflix failed to meet his demands for ransom. The move, if true, represents an audacious new frontier in digital piracy, which has already cost the entertainment industry billions of dollars.
Netflix, which produces the show, said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly that it is aware of the situation and that a “production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved.”
All 13 episodes of the fifth season of “Orange is the New Black” are scheduled to be released in its entirety on June 9. In a hostile note posted Friday to the text storage site Pastebin, the hacker said that he had requested a “modest” amount of money in exchange for not releasing the new episodes early. But since Netflix did not accede to those demands, he is purported to have released several episodes, via an illegal streaming service.
The “Orange Is the New Black” hacker threatened other media companies, including Fox, NBC and National Geographic, in the online ransom note. Officials from Netflix and the audio production studio said to be the target of the hacks did not immediately respond to requests for comment.