Studio at Center of Netflix Leak Breaks Silence

Megalith

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Here is a disclosure of what went down with that Orange Is The New Black leak. Larson Studios ended up paying $50,000 in Bitcoin so the hacking group responsible, the Dark Overlord, wouldn’t ruin their reputation, but the episodes went out anyway, and it could have all been avoided if it weren’t for an "old" computer running Windows 7. How has a studio that has been in business since 2002 not learned to patch their systems yet? Or, better yet, why didn’t the hackers leak a show that was actually good?

...the Larson Studios principals are breaking their silence on an incident that threatened the existence of their family-owned audio post-production business. An incident that led them to quietly wire more than $50,000 in extortion money to a group of hackers, only to see some of the most valuable works of their clients, including 10 unreleased episodes of Netflix drama series “Orange Is the New Black,” leak online. Both Larsons got another message from the same number on Christmas Eve. They still weren’t too concerned — but quickly changed their minds when the email arrived a day later. A hacking group calling itself the Dark Overlord told them it had broken into Larson’s server, and was threatening to leak all of the company’s data.
 
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Leak or not, I doubt it had any real effect on Netflix. If anything it saved them some bandwidth. Pirates will pirate, and if they care about quality they'll wait till after release anyway since this batch wasn't completely polished anyway. It's not like this show in particular is damaged by spoilers. The housewives and bored people like me aren't going to lapse our monthly just because we could possibly get a few episodes a little early. Lol.
 
I find it funny that people go to any length to pirate Netflix shows.

Can you really not pay $10 a month? You can get a shitty meal, and have your credit card compromised, at Chipotle for that price.
 
After reading the article I kinda feel bad for that company. It really did seem like they were doing what they thought they could to prevent the hacking group from releasing all the stolen content. Sucks that they ended up getting screwed over in the end.

I wonder if this will mark a bit of a change in how studios are chosen for this kind of work like passing a security audit before a deal is signed.
 
I'm genuinely surprised that people go through the trouble of pirating Netflix Originals....
 
I'm wondering if half those who download already have a Netflix sub.

I don't see what the point of that would be. I'd imagine that the available 'rips' are re-encoded and are thus always going to be of inferior quality to the stream. You could argue for offline use but who here is ever caught in an offline scenario often enough to warrant that?
 
all of the other extortionists are going to be pissed now since these guys just ruined it for them and nobody will trust them to honor the deal anymore.
Yeah I get the feeling there'll be some anonymous tips coming up :)
 
I don't see what the point of that would be. I'd imagine that the available 'rips' are re-encoded and are thus always going to be of inferior quality to the stream. You could argue for offline use but who here is ever caught in an offline scenario often enough to warrant that?
The Netflix player doesn't have a switch to watch at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. There's so much good TV now, that watching at those speeds is the only way to keep up. Plus, once you get used to it, watching at normal speed makes you antsy.
 
The Netflix player doesn't have a switch to watch at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. There's so much good TV now, that watching at those speeds is the only way to keep up. Plus, once you get used to it, watching at normal speed makes you antsy.
Haha. I've found myself skipping through episodes skipping over fluff. I almost wonder why I have this desire to even watch all this content.
 
Wow, pretty impressive they leaked the videos after payment. They should just have public service announcements that ransomware pricks will still screw you in the end and just not pay.

Overnight extortion market collapsed.
 
The Netflix player doesn't have a switch to watch at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. There's so much good TV now, that watching at those speeds is the only way to keep up. Plus, once you get used to it, watching at normal speed makes you antsy.

A buddy of mine listens to podcasts at 1.5x or 2x speed and it annoys the crap out of me. I guess I can understand that side of the argument if you really want to consume the content quickly.
 
I read the article, and yeah I don't buy it that a lonely Win 7 machine was connected to the internet, with no hardware or software firewall engaged, with no AV installed. Bullshit.

Someone using that system caught some phishing email, or downloaded something that had a trojan surprise in it. And neither of those would work if they used any half decent AV. Or had a properly patched version of windows. Or was done intentionally by someone on the inside.
 
I read the article, and yeah I don't buy it that a lonely Win 7 machine was connected to the internet, with no hardware or software firewall engaged, with no AV installed.

It's certainly possible, just sounds like they didn't have any security in place.
 
It's certainly possible, just sounds like they didn't have any security in place.

So your theory is that this Windows 7 computer is on the same network as their server with its firewall turned off, no AV software, and behind a router with its NAT and firewall disabled?
 
So your theory is that this Windows 7 computer is on the same network as their server with its firewall turned off, no AV software, and behind a router with its NAT and firewall disabled?
After working for many companies in IT, I can totally believe this.
One place I was sent to (Hotel) had their public access points connected to their internal network...no DMZ....nothing. you get on wifi you could access everything
Even where I am now, they used have their passwords...their ENTIRE password list for everything..in an access 2000 file.
I nearly had a stroke
I found a win7 machine only 2 weeks ago with no patch at all. not even SP1, so yes I can believe that this company could have the same stupid IT issues
 
I find it funny that people go to any length to pirate Netflix shows.

Can you really not pay $10 a month? You can get a shitty meal, and have your credit card compromised, at Chipotle for that price.
What a wonderful strawman you created.
Does it play trough media player classic, offline? If the answer is no, they could pay me for all I care I still wouldn't be interested.
 
After working for many companies in IT, I can totally believe this.
One place I was sent to (Hotel) had their public access points connected to their internal network...no DMZ....nothing. you get on wifi you could access everything
Even where I am now, they used have their passwords...their ENTIRE password list for everything..in an access 2000 file.
I nearly had a stroke
I found a win7 machine only 2 weeks ago with no patch at all. not even SP1, so yes I can believe that this company could have the same stupid IT issues
Oh lawd. Last company I worked for had a spectrum analyzer device conencted to an XP box! The quote for the updated version and a guy to come out and calibrate it for a Win10 machine was like 5k, so they said screw it. This coming from your avg million dollar company. Plus the 1 internet line sharing a public password-less wifi network as a separate SSID on nothing more than a Meraki unit. Sure it was DMZ'd and all but I mean cmon, anyone finds a way through that and they're on our internal network.
 
I read the article, and yeah I don't buy it that a lonely Win 7 machine was connected to the internet, with no hardware or software firewall engaged, with no AV installed. Bullshit.

Someone using that system caught some phishing email, or downloaded something that had a trojan surprise in it. And neither of those would work if they used any half decent AV. Or had a properly patched version of windows. Or was done intentionally by someone on the inside.
Eh...I totally believe it. Someone at the last photo studio I worked at sent out estimates as pdfs... by renaming word documents from *.doc to *.pdf (and not once or twice, this went on for weeks.)
 
What a wonderful strawman you created.
Does it play trough media player classic, offline? If the answer is no, they could pay me for all I care I still wouldn't be interested.

So what?

"I pirate PC games because I don't want to use Steam, Origin, etc.."
"I emulate console games because I want to play it on my PC at higher-res"
"I pirate movies because I hate going to the movies and would rather watch at home"
"I illegally stream live TV because I only want to watch 2 channels and not pay for a basic cable subscription"

A few bad examples but you get the idea. You're giving yourself a "reason" to circumvent the platform. More power to you if you convince yourself you're in the right. It still doesn't change my mind about how I find it funny that people go to any length to do any of this.
 
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So what?

"I pirate PC games because I don't want to use Steam, Origin, etc.."
"I emulate console games because I want to play it on my PC at higher-res"
"I pirate movies because I hate going to the movies and would rather watch at home"
"I illegally stream live TV because I only want to watch 2 channels and not pay for a basic cable subscription"

You get the idea. You're giving yourself a "reason" to circumvent the platform. More power to you if you convince yourself you're in the right. It still doesn't change my mind about how I find it funny that people go to any length to do any of this. Also, you mention Media Player Classic which leads me to believe your playback device is your computer and not anything else. Your computer is offline that much?

Steam and origin doesn't change the game experience at all. The video player I use is an integral part of the watching experience.
If you must have the gaming analogy it would go something like this: Here you can play the game but you're only allowed to play using this old brick mouse, with none of the features you like to use for gaming. If that were the case I'd pirate games as well. But I don't.

I don't stream, the whole point is that I hate streaming. I download everything I watch, from youtube, from vimeo, from all places I'm subscribed to. And if I can't download from somewhere I won't subscribe to that service. That's what it comes down to.

You can try to claim that it is about money, but it's not it never was. If it was about money why would I feel comfortable paying for things where I can download the content? And why would I pay for games, when I could pirate them just as easily?

It comes down to supply and demand. And in case of movies and tv shows there is a huge disconnect between my demand and what they're offering. But when it comes to games my demand is met by what steam / origin / others offer.
 
This is probably an old TV habit of mine. I used to record everything that I was interested in from music programs to sports. And as I watched them if I found something that was worth keeping I edited it down. I used to record lots of music videos and sports events and documentaries this way.
With a stream I don't have the option to capture it or record it, or even save it for later consumption. I don't like watching things the way others dictate it. Guess my biggest beef with Netflix is (after not being downloadable) is that their library is not constant, just because something is on it today doesn't mean I'll be able to watch it tomorrow. And that uncertainty makes me anxious. This wouldn't be a problem if I was able to save / record the shows for later viewing as I'm used to doing for decades.

And of course another issue I take with netflix is that a lot of shows are geolocked on it. I don't get access to the same library as for example someone from north america.
 
Eh...I totally believe it. Someone at the last photo studio I worked at sent out estimates as pdfs... by renaming word documents from *.doc to *.pdf (and not once or twice, this went on for weeks.)

Facepalm.
 
Steam and origin doesn't change the game experience at all. The video player I use is an integral part of the watching experience.
If you must have the gaming analogy it would go something like this: Here you can play the game but you're only allowed to play using this old brick mouse, with none of the features you like to use for gaming. If that were the case I'd pirate games as well. But I don't.

I don't stream, the whole point is that I hate streaming. I download everything I watch, from youtube, from vimeo, from all places I'm subscribed to. And if I can't download from somewhere I won't subscribe to that service. That's what it comes down to.

You can try to claim that it is about money, but it's not it never was. If it was about money why would I feel comfortable paying for things where I can download the content? And why would I pay for games, when I could pirate them just as easily?

It comes down to supply and demand. And in case of movies and tv shows there is a huge disconnect between my demand and what they're offering. But when it comes to games my demand is met by what steam / origin / others offer.

Fair enough reasoning. I was shortsighted in my original view that people only resort to downloading to avoid paying.

Many years back I used to be a digital hoarder myself but as time went on I just resigned to the streaming side of things. Heck, I even used to download movies I owned just so that I wouldn't have to go through the hassle of popping in the DVD and skipping through all the warnings/previews.

The only downside I have with streaming is that I absolutely cannot watch anything on any device when Steam is downloading game updates since it seems to hog 99.99....% of my internet bandwidth.
 
Fair enough reasoning. I was shortsighted in my original view that people only resort to downloading to avoid paying.
His reasons are still pretty trivial. Save it for later consumption? Dude just click the link and it plays, what difference in consumption is there between playing it "later" as an mp4 vs playing it later as a stream? Region lockouts? I seriously doubt this is a regular struggle for him. Inconsistent content? What is he watching one day that is no longer available the next? I'm pretty sure this only impacts film rights which produces another monumental "meh" from me. If you missed what you were looking for when it was available were you really going to watch it if you downloaded it? I mean you'd have to be downloaded lots of obscure shit just to have it sit there for lord knows how long. He already confessed his real reasoning is just some sort of OCD habit and then justified it with a bunch of flaky excuses.
 
Oh lawd. Last company I worked for had a spectrum analyzer device conencted to an XP box! The quote for the updated version and a guy to come out and calibrate it for a Win10 machine was like 5k, so they said screw it. This coming from your avg million dollar company. Plus the 1 internet line sharing a public password-less wifi network as a separate SSID on nothing more than a Meraki unit. Sure it was DMZ'd and all but I mean cmon, anyone finds a way through that and they're on our internal network.

Depends, did the XP box have access to the network or was it a dark box? If it was a dark box, I would not rate is as dire need to replace or update. If is connected, can it be pulled from the network?
 
Depends, did the XP box have access to the network or was it a dark box? If it was a dark box, I would not rate is as dire need to replace or update. If is connected, can it be pulled from the network?
Oh yeah it was online, because the senior lab guy needs file server access for recording data and stuff, and the idea of a thumb drive was too much to handle.
 
As much I like the show, its wasnt worth a downloading effort, especially if you already had a Netflix account. I'm sure it was already being pirated again upon its official release. An early release probably didnt have much effect on things other than the reporting of a hack on a company with weak security fundamentals in a high profile industry. I dont think ignorance is a defense nowadays when it comes to security on these firms. Why keep all the data on a net connected computer in the first place? stupid.
 
His reasons are still pretty trivial. Save it for later consumption? Dude just click the link and it plays, what difference in consumption is there between playing it "later" as an mp4 vs playing it later as a stream? Region lockouts? I seriously doubt this is a regular struggle for him. Inconsistent content? What is he watching one day that is no longer available the next? I'm pretty sure this only impacts film rights which produces another monumental "meh" from me. If you missed what you were looking for when it was available were you really going to watch it if you downloaded it? I mean you'd have to be downloaded lots of obscure shit just to have it sit there for lord knows how long. He already confessed his real reasoning is just some sort of OCD habit and then justified it with a bunch of flaky excuses.
LOL, talking about me in 3rd person won't make me go away. I'm still here, if you have a point to make make it to me. But it seems to me you're just talking air because you can't counter my reasons. All I see is a long line of conjecture and assumptions and scenarios you invented. They're my reasons you can try to bagatelize them but there is no right or wrong here. You're fine with netflix / streaming because you have different wants than me. That's it. There is nothing to ideologize here.

I've been faced many times with geobanning of content and removals of content. I don't want to take that chance when I'm paying. It's not about how many movies are removed on the next day. Or ever. It's about the fact that it can happen, there are no guarantees. When I pay for something I want guarantees.
There are streaming sites that change the way they deliver the content and their player too often. I don't want to be dealing with that. As soon as I downloaded the content I'm free from any and all of their fads and retroactive changes. For example there was one particular streaming site that simply switched streaming providers and after the switch all older videos became 360p instead of 720p .With no chance to access higher resolution. Not to mention some of the videos became completely unavailable.

If you're in the Us region locks are not an usual problem for you. Here in europe we're struggling with it almost daily. I come upon so much content that I cannot watch because I happen to try it from the "wrong" location. Content I'd otherwise willing to pay for. Actually there is content I pay for monthly by circumventing the lockout. But only because I can download it after paying for it so even if I get discovered I can keep what I already paid for. The latest LOL was when I tried to watch a sports event held in my own country on a streaming site I subscribed to but the site said I'm banned because of my location. Now that's irony for you right there.

And finally, yes I hoard some obscure shit that I feel I might watch later, and sometimes it happens that I don't watch them in that case I simply delete the downloaded file end of story, but in most cases I do watch them, occasionally a year or more later. I often bump into movies that I find interesting but don't want to watch right away.

I'm not going to change my media consumption habits for them. If they fail to offer what I want then we won't be in business it's that easy.
 
I guess the real question is why are these production machines not air gapped...
 
Many reasons from crappy stream quality to lacking crop feature. Media players also have various video enhancements as well that many people prefer. Content availability with streaming services is another thing where you often need multiple services. Netflix is VERY far off BD video quality, 4K is a joke too with a crappy soft image. Free streaming is even worse with Kodi where channels come and go and quality is all over the place. Not worth it to me at least, custom BD rips on NAS is the way to go for me.
 
The Netflix player doesn't have a switch to watch at 1.25 or 1.5 speed. There's so much good TV now, that watching at those speeds is the only way to keep up. Plus, once you get used to it, watching at normal speed makes you antsy.

I watch a lot of shows and I'd never do that.
 
I find it funny that people go to any length to pirate Netflix shows.

Can you really not pay $10 a month? You can get a shitty meal, and have your credit card compromised, at Chipotle for that price.

Yes and of course the whole world has internet capable of streaming... i cant even stream a 720p video. Like I am going to pay for netflix to watch it buffer...
 
I find it funny that people go to any length to pirate Netflix shows.

Can you really not pay $10 a month? You can get a shitty meal, and have your credit card compromised, at Chipotle for that price.

The content in movies today is shit, it isn't worth paying any money for, in fact they should be paying me to watch the 200 movies I download and watch a month. Absolute garbage though, every movie that I watch is garbage. Don't pay any attention to how much I watch though as it isn't important. I only waste my time since the movies are free. Oh wait somebody already beat me with a stupid reason why pirating content is fine and they were serious about their reason.

With the cheap ways to get movies and music, that just shows that some people will come up with any reason they can to justify it no matter what you say.

What a wonderful strawman you created.
Does it play trough media player classic, offline? If the answer is no, they could pay me for all I care I still wouldn't be interested.

Netflix supports downloading for offline viewing. So... while not the program you said it can be watched offline. But you will just come up with other reason why you should pirate all content.

Yes and of course the whole world has internet capable of streaming... i cant even stream a 720p video. Like I am going to pay for netflix to watch it buffer...

If you can't stream anything I wouldn't think that you would be suffering through the download process, or you could just download from them.
 
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