‘Orange Is The New Black’: Hacker Says He Stole New Season, Demands Ransom From Netflix

Erik Pedersen
Updated

Orange is the new hack? Netflix is facing a cyber nightmare as a hacker claims to have stolen the upcoming fifth season of its popular prison dramedy and is demanding to be paid to keep it off the Internet ahead of its June 9 premiere. The Associated Press reports tonight that a person using the moniker The Dark Lord claims to have uploaded the first Season 5 episode of Orange Is the New Black to an illegal file-sharing service already, though AP said it could not confirm that the file is authentic.

In the ransom note, the hacker claims also to have stolen series from other studios by breaching a single company. The person threatened to release those programs as well if “modest” ransoms are not paid. “We are aware of the situation,” Netflix confirmed to Deadline in a statement. “A production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved.” The streaming service told AP it is an “active situation” that the FBI and others are investigating.

The news about threat to the acclaimed series comes less than two weeks after Netflix posted disappointment Q1 subscriber growth.

Season 5 of Orange Is the New Black takes place in near-real time over the course of three days. In the fourth-season finale, the death of a popular character led to a riot at Litchfield Penitentiary. It ended with another series regular holding a gun to a prison guard’s head. The series has won three consecutive SAG Awards for comedy ensemble and has been Emmy-nominated for both Outstanding Comedy and Outstanding Drama.

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