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Disney to Phase Out Slack After Major Data Breach

Disney to Phase Out Slack After Major Data Breach
  • PublishedSeptember 20, 2024

The Walt Disney Company plans to stop using Slack as its primary internal communication platform, following a significant data breach that exposed over a terabyte of sensitive company information.

According to a memo cited by the Wall Street Journal, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston confirmed that most of the company’s business units would transition to alternative enterprise-wide collaboration tools by the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2025.

The decision comes after the hacking group NullBulge leaked data from Disney’s Slack channels in July, including unreleased project details and computer code. The breach reportedly exposed more than 44 million internal messages. Disney launched an investigation into the unauthorized data release, but the company assured investors that the incident would not have a material impact on its operations or financial performance.

In an internal memo, Johnston highlighted the move to integrated collaboration tools, which he believes will enhance productivity and security. While the transition is already underway for many teams, more complex divisions will follow by the second quarter of fiscal 2025.

Despite the changes, some Disney employees expressed dissatisfaction with the planned shift to Microsoft Teams, citing concerns over losing key Slack integrations and archived content. Neither Disney nor Slack’s parent company, Salesforce, immediately responded to requests for comment.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff addressed the situation during the Dreamforce conference, emphasizing the importance of companies maintaining robust security practices to protect against phishing and social engineering attacks.

With input from Business Insider, CNBC, and New York Post.

Written By
Joe Yans