Suspect Arrested in Avatar: The Last Airbender Film Hack/Leak: REPORT | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #hacker

Posted in: Movies, Paramount+, TV | Tagged: avatar, Avatar The Last Airbender

Report: A suspect was arrested in the hack/leak of Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, Paramount+’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” film.

While there will most likely be questions remaining about the hack/leak of Paramount+’s Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, it appears the person who may have set all of this in motion has been arrested. In case you need catching up, an individual took to social media, claiming that the entire film was “accidentally” emailed to them. Along with releasing clips from the film (totaling more than 3 minutes of alleged footage), the individual threatened to livestream the entire film if Paramount didn’t release a trailer or some kind of preview sooner rather than later. Since that time, additional reporting noted that the person who leaked the film was not the hacker, and that the “Avatar: The Last Airbender” film had been shared online by various sources.

Earlier today, The Straits Times reported that a 26-year-old man was arrested in Singapore for allegedly leaking the film, charged with accessing a media server without authorization. A spokesperson for the police says they received a report on April 16th that portions of the film had been released online, and that “the man was identified and arrested within a day of the report.” The article adds that “various electronic devices” were seized by law enforcement and that a copy of the film was recovered from the devices taken. According to the police, the preliminary investigation revealed that “the man had gained unauthorised remote access to the server and downloaded the film, which he later posted parts of online.” If found guilty, the alleged hacker could face either a maximum jail sentence of seven years or a fine up to $50,000 – or both.

Avatar: The Last Airbender Team Calls Out Hack/Leak

“We worked on the aang movie for years with the expectation that’d we’d get to celebrate all of our hard work in theaters, just to see people unceremoniously leak the film and pass our shots around on Twitter like candy,” animator Julia Schoel (Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Helluva Boss) posted on social media, the first of a three-part response. I don’t like seeing people use Paramount’s awful decision to remove the movie from theaters to justify leaking it. I totally understand folks not wanting to pay for/support Paramount+, but pirating the movie after its release would have at least been better than this. This is incredibly disrespectful to all of the hard work the artists put in.”

In response to a follow-up question, Schoel explained that there are significant differences between hacking/leaking and pirating. “Leaking a movie before release undermines the entire effort at its most vulnerable moment. No marketing buildup, premieres, etc, which harms the film’s reputation and affects future opportunities for the artists who worked on it,” Schoel wrote. “Pirating, on the other hand, happens after the film has already had the chance to reach audiences through official channels, and does not harm its reputation.” Here’s a look at Schoel’s opening reaction to the controversy, followed by reactions from a number of other individuals who were directly involved in bringing the project to life:

Paramount+‘s The Avatar: Aang, The Last Airbender stars Dave Bautista, Eric Nam, Jessica Matten, Dionne Quan, Román Zaragoza, Steven Yeun, Taika Waititi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Dee Bradley Baker, Peta Sergeant, Freida Pinto, and Ke Huy Quan.

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