A Southern California man this week pleaded guilty to hacking a Disney employee’s personal computer, stealing confidential company data and pretending to be part of an anti-AI hacktivist group.
Ryan Mitchell Kramer, 25, agreed to plead to two felony charges, one for obtaining information from an unlawfully accessed computer and another for threatening to damage a protected computer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California
announced Thursday
. The Santa Clarita resident faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
In early 2024, Kramer laid his trap on code-sharing site GitHub, among other platforms, pretending to share a computer program that creates artificial intelligence-generated art. Those who downloaded it received what was actually a “malicious file” that allowed Kramer to gain access to their computers, according to the attorney’s office.
Between April and May 2024, a Walt Disney Company employee downloaded the file. Kramer managed to obtain access to this individual’s personal computer, where they found an account containing log-in details for both their personal and professional accounts.
Kramer subsequently gained access to numerous internal Disney Slack channels and extracted approximately 1.1 terabytes of sensitive information, according to officials. In July 2024, he reached out to the Disney employee via email and Discord, posing as someone from a fictitious Russian entity.
hacktivist group called “Nullbulge
and threatened to disclose the information.
Following the lack of a response, Kramer made public the stolen Slack files along with employees’ banking, health, and personal information across various online platforms on July 12, 2024, as stated in his admission document.
The data dump included 44 million messages, private customer information, employee passport data and theme park and streaming revenue numbers,
The Wall Street Journal mentioned
It also encompassed discussions related to sustaining Disney’s corporate website, advancing software development initiatives, and evaluating potential employees.
images of employees’ pets dating back to 2019
.
“We are delighted that this person has been indicted and has consented to enter a guilty plea for federal offenses,” stated a Disney representative via email to Vmeetsolutions News. “We continue to be dedicated to collaborating closely with law enforcement agencies, just as we did in this instance, to make sure cyber criminals face consequences.”
In his plea agreement, Kramer admitted to hacking into the computers and accounts of two additional individuals who had accessed his harmful software, authorities stated. The Federal Bureau of Investigation continues its probe into the matter. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kramer is scheduled to make an appearance in federal court in Los Angeles within the next few weeks.
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