Disney engineer's life destroyed after downloading malware disguised as AI tool
Matthew Van Andel, a 42-year-old former Disney engineer, downloaded a free AI image generation tool from GitHub in February 2024. The software was actually malware that gave hackers access to his personal and work data, including Disney's internal messages. Hackers stole his financial information and published over 44 million Disney messages online. Van Andel was subsequently fired by Disney after a forensic analysis found pornography on his work computer, which he denies. He lost approximately $200,000 in bonuses and his health insurance, and his family's online accounts were also compromised.
- Date it happened
- 2024-02-01
- Organisation involved
- Disney
This incident was imported from dailymail.co.uk. Our additions to it — the structured fields, the translation, the checks against other reports — are published under the same licence.
This is a record of what was reported, not a finding that anyone broke the law. If it names your organisation and you believe it is wrong, the corrections process is free and open to everyone.