Ryan Mitchell Kramer, 25, of Santa Clarita, Southern California, pleaded guilty to hacking into a Disney employee’s personal computer last year. How much data did he have to download and what artificial intelligence was involved?
Ryan Mitchell Kramer, 25, of Santa Clarita, Southern California, pleaded guilty to hacking into a Disney employee’s personal computer last year. How much data did he have to download and what artificial intelligence was involved?
In early 2024, Kramer posted a computer program online that appeared to be an artificial intelligence-based art generator. The program contained a malicious file that allowed the attacker to gain access to the victim’s computer, Patch reports, citing a report from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The victim downloaded the file in the spring of 2024, and in May 2024, Kramer downloaded approximately 1.1 terabytes of sensitive data from thousands of Disney Slack channels. In July 2024, the attacker contacted the user of the compromised computer, claiming to be a member of a fictional Russian hacktivist group, and threatened to leak the information.
The victim did not respond, so Kramer posted the victim’s Slack files, banking, medical, and personal information on several online platforms.
The suspect pleaded guilty to the crime last week, according to the agency. He now faces up to five years in federal prison on each count.
