Disney stops using Slack after hacker incident in summer

Sept. 20 (UPI) – Disney told employees on Thursday that the company would no longer use Slack for internal communications after cybercriminals made financial records, computer code and other information publicly available in a hacking attack earlier this year.

The Walt Disney Company officially informed its employees in a memo seen by CNBC and Business Insider that the company will be disconnecting from Slack by the end of the fiscal quarter. Disney had told investors that the hack would not affect them.

The hacker group called NullBulge claimed responsibility for accessing Disney's Slack files.

“I want to share that senior leadership has made the decision to transition away from Slack across the company,” Disney CFO Hugh Johnston said in a company newsletter. “Our technology teams are now managing the transition away from Slack.”

Nullbulge said it gained access to 1.1 terabytes of messages and other materials from Disney. The entertainment giant said the incident was still under investigation.

Johnston said employees would soon also be trained on best practices, handling work-related collaborations and confidential information to prevent a similar hacking attack.

Before the announcement, Salesforce, which owns Slack, said Disney continues to use its products in its Disney store, guides and operations. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said security is “completely rock solid” but companies need to do their part to prevent phishing tactics from hackers to be successful.