Disney To Stop Using Slack Following July Data Breach

Disney will stop using Slack following a July data breach. The corporation will no longer use the communication platform after company data was leaked to the public.

Nasdaq reports that Disney made the decision after a hack exposed over 1 terabyte of company data from a Slack server. As a result, Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston announced that the majority of Disney’s business units will discontinue using Slack by the end of the next fiscal quarter.

PC Mag shared details from Johnson’s memo. He wrote, “I would like to share that senior leadership has made the decision to transition away from Slack across the company. Our technology teams are now managing the transition off Slack by the end of Q1 FY25 for most businesses.”

Disney to Stop Using Slack After Data Breachhttps://t.co/x10ldADsek

— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) September 19, 2024

Although the leaked data reportedly comprised more than 44 million messages, around 18,800 spreadsheet files, and 13,000 PDFs, the company ensured its investors the breach was not expected to have a “material impact on the company’s operations or financial performance.”

In July, NullBulge reportedly hacked into thousands of Disney’s Slack channels via a software engineer’s computer and posted screenshots of the data on X. According to The Wall Street Journal, NullBulge released the data because it thought that “making demands of Disney would be ineffective,” the spokesperson said. “If we said ‘Hello Disney, we have all your slack data’ they would instantly lock down and try to take us out. In a duel, you better fire first.”

The group claimed that it gained access to the information by compromising the computer of a Disney software development manager on two separate occasions: first through a video game add-on and later via an undisclosed method. The extent of the group’s access to Disney’s Slack system remains unclear.

Disney’s businesses span movies, streaming services Disney+ and Hulu, theme parks, cable TV, and sports giant ESPN. It is home to popular franchises, including Marvel and Star Wars. In August, Disney announced that it was investigating this unauthorized release of data.