California Man Pleads Guilty in Disney Hacking Case

Ryan Mitchell Kramer, a 25-year-old from Santa Clarita, California, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of hacking a Disney employee's computer and stealing about 1.1 terabytes of confidential company data. Kramer used malware disguised as an AI art tool to gain unauthorized access to private accounts and Disney's workplace Slack channels. In July 2024, he posed as 'NullBulge,' a fictitious Russian hacktivist group, and threatened to release the stolen data and the victim's personal information unless demands were met; after receiving no response, he published the data online. The leaked files included internal Disney communications, sensitive financial and strategic documents, and personal information of Disney staff. Kramer admitted targeting at least two additional victims with the same malware. He faces up to five years in federal prison for each felony count, is expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles soon, and investigations into his activities continue.