Nickelodeon investigates breach after leak of 'decades old’ data

Nickelodeon has confirmed that the data leaked from an alleged breach of the company is legitimate but some of it appears to be decades old.

Nickelodeon is a Paramount-owned American pay TV channel that produces and airs content aimed at children and family audiences.

At the end of June, a rumor emerged about a major leak from Nickelodeon's animation department. Proof of the alleged data leak started circulating on social media, showing an extensive collection of reportedly 500GB in documents and media files.

The data breach supposedly occurred January this year and allegedly ended with Nickelodeon blocking the unauthorized access two months later. However, there is no reliable evidence about this..

According to some sources, all the files were leaked on a private Discord server, and many of them are being reposted elsewhere.

In a statement to BleepingComputer, a Nickelodeon spokesperson said that an investigation is ongoing. However, the files do not appear to be the product of a recent breach of their systems.

Also, the TV channel's spokesperson assured that the leaked data does not contain user or employee data and that it is limited to production resources and other intellectual property.

"We are aware of social media posts that alleged production-related files were made available without authorization, and we are investigating," stated Nickelodeon's spokesperson

"The alleged leaked content appears related to production files only, not long-form content or employee or user data, and some of it appears to be decades old." - Nickelodeon

Analyzing the entire data dump may take a while, but based on the company's statement, it doesn't appear that Nickelodeon has identified signs of a real compromise.

Even if it is proven that the leaked content is old and does not cause Nickelodeon significant business damage, re-distribution of copyright-protected intellectual property is illegal, and those engaging in the act may face legal consequences for doing so.