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Netflix is facing a lawsuit from Op-Fortitude Ltd. and producer-financier Simon Afram over the alleged loss or theft of an unencrypted digital master of the unreleased Nicolas Cage WWII thriller Fortitude during a private screening process. The plaintiffs say Netflix left the file unattended at its offices without basic safeguards, failed to delete screener copies or promptly return the drive, and waited days to about a week before notifying them. They argue the incident jeopardized the film’s exclusivity, exposed it to piracy risk, and undermined its marketing and commercial value.
The suit seeks at least $105 million in one report and $112.5 million in another, reflecting claims of major financial harm tied to the project’s investment and release strategy. Netflix denies wrongdoing, contending the filmmakers delivered the movie without industry-standard protections such as encryption or password controls, and says it notified relevant parties once aware of the incident, investigated the matter, and offered support including piracy-site monitoring. The company also says it has found no evidence that Fortitude has been leaked online.
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A Netflix executive emailed that someone had stolen a good amount of drives from office desks during the prior week. Plaintiffs cite this as the point when Netflix acknowledged the theft affecting the Fortitude drive.
Netflix conducted a private screening of Fortitude using the delivered master file. The plaintiffs allege Netflix was supposed to delete the screener files after the screening and return the drive.
According to the lawsuit, an unencrypted digital master drive containing the unreleased film Fortitude was delivered to Netflix's Hollywood studio. The plaintiffs say Netflix had been told verbally and in writing that the drive was unencrypted.
The lawsuit alleges Netflix postponed or ignored requests to arrange pickup of the drive between June 17 and June 25, during which the unencrypted drive disappeared from Netflix's office. Plaintiffs say the file had been left unattended on an office desk without basic security controls.
Op-Fortitude Ltd. and producer-financier Simon Afram sued Netflix over the alleged loss or theft of the unencrypted Fortitude master drive from Netflix's offices. The suit seeks major damages, with reports citing claims ranging from $105 million to at least $112.5 million plus other damages.
Netflix said it conducted a thorough investigation, offered piracy-site monitoring support, and found no evidence that Fortitude had been leaked online. It also maintained that the production company had voluntarily provided the film without encryption.
The filmmakers said they temporarily paused marketing and sales efforts for Fortitude ahead of awards season because of the theft risk and potential piracy exposure. They claim the incident undermined the film's exclusivity and distribution value.
The plaintiffs said they filed their own police report with the Los Angeles Police Department after the drive went missing. They also alleged Netflix declined to cooperate with LAPD and would not answer questions about whether it had filed its own report.
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Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a destructive cyberattack that shut down internal systems, exposed large volumes of confidential data, and led to the online leak of unreleased films, executive emails, contracts, salary information, and employee medical and personal records. The attackers, calling themselves **Guardians of Peace**, reportedly stole roughly 11TB of data and used the breach to pressure Sony over *The Interview*, a comedy depicting a plot to kill Kim Jong Un. The fallout triggered lawsuits from former employees, public embarrassment for senior executives after private emails were published, and major operational disruption as staff reverted to phones, fax machines, and handwritten notes while the company worked with the FBI and other authorities. The intrusion escalated from data theft to coercion when the hackers threatened cinemas with a "9/11"-style attack if *The Interview* was shown, prompting major theater chains to drop the film and Sony to cancel its wide Christmas release before later restoring it through independent theaters and online platforms including YouTube, Google Play, Xbox Video, and Sony's own service. U.S. officials and the FBI publicly attributed the attack to North Korea, later tying it to alleged operative **Park Jin Hyok** and broader Lazarus-linked activity, while North Korea denied responsibility and some private researchers argued insider involvement may also have played a role. The case became a landmark example of cyber-enabled extortion, censorship pressure, and destructive state-linked intrusion against a major media company.
Jun 29, 2026
Sony Pictures Entertainment suffered a destructive cyberattack that leaked internal emails and documents, disrupted operations, and intensified after the studio's planned release of *The Interview*, a film depicting the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A group calling itself **Guardians of Peace** claimed responsibility, and US officials publicly attributed the intrusion to North Korea, with FBI Director James Comey later saying the attackers exposed themselves by sending messages through internet infrastructure used exclusively by North Korea. ABC also reported that investigators believed parts of the operation were routed through compromised computers overseas, underscoring the attackers' efforts to obscure their origin. The attribution quickly became contested as private-sector researchers and cyber intelligence firm Norse briefed the FBI on an alternate theory pointing to disgruntled former Sony employees and piracy-linked hackers rather than Pyongyang, while the FBI said it had no credible evidence contradicting its conclusion. The fallout expanded beyond the initial breach when WikiLeaks published more than **170,000 emails** and **30,000 documents** taken in the attack, prompting Sony to denounce the release as trafficking in stolen, private, and privileged material. Separate reporting on the celebrity photo theft involving Jennifer Lawrence and others showed the FBI simultaneously confronting another high-profile case of hacked private content being widely redistributed online, highlighting the broader climate of major entertainment-sector cyber intrusions and privacy violations.
Jun 29, 2026