'Orange Is the New Black' season 5 episodes leaked by hackers after Netflix declined to pay them ransom
Hackers claim they have released new episodes of "Orange Is the New Black" season 5 after Netflix refused to pay them to avert the leak.
On Saturday, The New York Times reported that the fifth season of "Orange Is the New Black" had been stolen and partially leaked by one anonymous hacker (or a group of hackers) known as The Dark Overlord. The hackers allegedly asked Netflix for a "modest" amount of money to stop the leak, but the streaming giant refused their demand.
"It didn't have to be this way, Netflix," the message from The Dark Overlord reads. "You're going to lose a lot more money in all of this than what our modest offer was."
The hackers reportedly stole files from the post-production company Larson Studios to obtain the new episodes. They also gained access to show files from other popular studios, including Fox and ABC.
"Oh, what fun we're all going to have. We're not playing any games anymore," the hackers posted on Twitter before publishing some of the show's season 5 episodes. The hackers could only get 10 of the 13 episodes from season 5 since the studio was still finishing up the last three episodes at the time of the attack.
However, it appears that The Dark Overlord is not yet done. The hackers warned that they have more programs from other TV networks. DataBreaches.net notes that the hackers provided them with a preview of other shows illegally obtained from Larson Studios. It seems that there could be 36 more titles on the list, a majority of which fans have likely heard about.
Included in the mix are yet-to-premiere seasons of FX's "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," CBS' procedural "NCIS: Los Angeles," Fox's "New Girl," IFC's "Portlandia," and more. Also part of the lineup are singular titles such as Vin Diesel's "XXX: Return of Xander Cage," Netflix's "Bill Nye Saves the World," and one original from YouTube Red.
Netflix said it had already informed the authorities about the situation and declined to comment any further.
The fifth season of "Orange Is the New Black" officially hits Netflix on Friday, June 9.
