Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 Is Being Held For Ransom By Hackers

One of the summer’s biggest movie releases has been stolen and is being held for ransom. It has been reported that hackers have demanded a payout from Disney or else they will release Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales onto the internet.

According to Deadline, hackers have demanded "an enormous amount of money," to be paid in Bitcoin, or else they will release the movie in increments online. The site reports that the studio is refusing to pay and is currently working with the FBI.

While Disney has not officially commented on the story, chief executive Bob Iger did confirm to ABC employees on Monday that the incident had taken place. The identity of the stolen film was not revealed, but Deadline has since learned that it is the latest entry in the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean series. The movie is set to hit theaters on May 24.

Deadline spoke to online security expert Hector Monsegur, who explained that while big studios like Disney have tight security measures, there is no guarantee that the many third party companies involved with a movie's production would have the same level of online protection.

"You have all these vendors and small production companies which don't have great security," he said. "[They] probably don't have the budget to focus on their own security, so hackers get in pretty easily."

This is the second incident of a high-profile production being held for ransom in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a hacker claimed that he had stolen the latest season of the Netflix show Orange is the New Black, and was similarly demanding a payout from the streaming giant.