After more than 10 upcoming Netflix movies and shows leaked online, the company has finally issued a response. If you haven’t been keeping track, a number of unreleased Netflix anime TV series and a movie began making the rounds on torrent sites and social media earlier this week. At first, it was unclear exactly how so many shows and movies made their way online, but now we’re starting to learn the full story behind the Netflix leak.
At the time of writing, the list of leaked projects consists of Ranma 1/2, Dan Da Dan, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- season 3, TERMINATOR ZERO, Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain, Plankton: The Movie, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld, Fairly Odd Parents: A New Wish!, Spellbound, Arcane season 2, and Heartstopper season 3.
Here’s the statement Netflix shared with the press on Friday (via What’s on Netflix):
“One of our post-production partners has been compromised, and footage from several of our titles has unfortunately leaked online,” a Netflix spokesperson wrote. “Our team is aggressively taking action to have it taken down.”
How did the Netflix leak happen?
The source of the leaks is the global entertainment technology and localization company IYUNO, which counts Netflix and Riot Games among its clients. On Friday, IYUNO shared the following statement about a security incident on its site:
Iyuno is aware of a recent security issue, involving unauthorized access to confidential content. Protecting our clients’ confidentiality and ensuring the security of their content is our highest priority. We are actively investigating this security breach to mitigate any potential risks and identify the responsible parties. When there are material changes or information we will make further statements.
As spotted by What’s on Netflix, security firm MomentPort—which works with one of the studios impacted—received a notification on August 7 from one of its internal tools that monitors the web for any publication of its client’s data. This was how MomentPort found unreleased workprints of its client’s projects on 4chan.
“This discovery initiated an investigation, and we assigned a researcher to determine whether this breach had affected our client,” wrote MomentPort CTO Travis Doering. “We found that over 45 media files had already been leaked from a wide range of distribution companies. Some of these media files included Spellbound from Netflix, set to release in November 2024, Plankton: The Movie from Nickelodeon Animation Studios, expected to release in 2025; Arcane Strife from Riot Games, expected to release in November 2024; and even the reboot of Barney’s World from Turner Broadcasting, expected to release sometime this year, in 2024.”
While Netflix is working to take down the leaked material as quickly as it can, it might be some time before we know the full extent of this security breach.
