In July, Matthew Van Andel, an engineer at Disney at the time, got a message on the chat forum Discord from an unknown account, which seemed to know personal, granular details that would only be possible if the individual had access to his workplace Slack chat program.
As the engineer raced to reset his various passwords, the hackers followed through on their threat, releasing information including his Social Security number, his login credentials to Disney systems, and even dumping info on his children’s Roblox accounts.
The hackers said if Van Andel, who alerted Disney to the seeming breach, didn’t comply with their demands, they would release troves of his personal information online.
A former Disney employee's world was turned upside down when he downloaded an artificial intelligence-powered photo program, unaware that it was laced with hacking software, during a massive data breach at the entertainment giant.
Van Andel’s family members also say they doubt the claim the hack was motivated by an ideological grievance against Disney.
