One of Netflix's most recognisable shows, Orange Is The New Black, has been posted online on Pirate Bay following a ransom situation with the streaming service played out.
A hacker group, known only as thedarkoverlord, threatened to release the fifth season of Orange Is The New Black if Netflix did not meet his or her demands. Those demands included a lengthy contract between a local production vendor - which had the first ten episodes of the Netflix series on its servers - and 50 bitcoin, which is worth €62,141 at current market rates.
According to a report by TorrentFreak, the hacker group had the episodes in their possession since December 2016 and were in the process of negotiating when several deadlines for payment weren't met. As a result, the files were set to go live on Pirate Bay today.
In a statement to TorrentFreak, the hacker group also claimed that it's sitting on a lot more material from film and television studios that it's prepared to release online if their demands aren't met. Netflix, meanwhile, acknowledged in a statement to Variety that "a production vendor used by several major TV studios had its security compromised and the appropriate law enforcement authorities are involved."
So far, nobody's been able to verify if the episodes are genuine and are so far only accessible via Pirate Bay. It's not yet known if Netflix will move up the release date from June 9th to a more sooner date.
Via TorrentFreak / Variety