Posted on 02/26/2025 10:07:51 AM PST by yesthatjallen
A former Disney engineer who downloaded an AI tool for fun says the decision destroyed his life and career.
Matthew Van Andel, 42, had his financial information stolen by hackers who used his login credentials to steal crucial data from Disney, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
That saw him fired from his job.
He had downloaded the free software from the code-sharing site GitHub in February on a computer at his $1.1 million home. The technology was supposed to help him create AI images from text prompts. Instead, it was malware that gave hackers access to his entire digital life - including his work data - through a password-manager.
Van Andel knew something was wrong in July, when he received a Discord message that read: 'I have gained access to certain sensitive information related to your personal and professional life.'
The stranger messaging knew a lot about him - including details about his lunch with co-workers days before that had been discussed in a private workplace Slack channel.
The next morning, after Van Andel went to the police instead of handing the hackers more information, over 44 million Disney messages were published online.
The data dump included Disney's private customer information, employee passport numbers, and theme park and streaming revenue numbers.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Who was an idiot? This guy. Downloading from Git and not running it in a VM.
It’s Disney, so ... meh.
I can just imagine what kind of AI images he was hoping to create.
Idiot. Fwiw $1.1 million doesn’t buy you much in Southern California unless you live way out of town and commute. Sad sorry state we are in.
This tells me he was working from home on home computer. I bet the “work from home” has problems in many other fields.
I use Github but usually it is just a piece of existing code that I use for an arduino routine.
I was just visiting my niece this weekend. They have one of the Amazon Echo devices listening to everything. Their whole house is controlled by the thing. Light bulbs (really, you can’t use a switch) shopping, the music, the AC. And the little boys can run around and it recognizes what they say. All made in China. I’m pretty sure China has incredible details of every aspect of human life with their little digital bobbles. I would never put that stuff in my house.
And this guy just wanted to make pictures??? Dude, get a camera. He was obviously intelligent in some parts of his life being an engineer in a million dollar house. But that boy just ain’t too bright.
I am guessing the Disney IT department perverts were doing the same thing. A multi billion dollar company lets this happen?
If you go to the article...it will show you a picture of his 1 million dollar home.
Its very impressive.
He’s the only one who got hit this hard? Seems like something personal.
This tells me he was working from home on home computer. I bet the “work from home” has problems in many other fields.
*********************************************
In the story - “company issued device”. Yeah I know reading the article is optional *grin*.
Double Twit:
1. Downloaded unverified software. GitHub has useful stuff but beware. it’s the Wild Wild west in there.
2. The boss’s computer. Bad JuJu. Very Bad.
Many ways to do this online without installing potentially dangerous software onto your own computer. But you should assume that what you say to and request of an online AI tool is public. The guy wanted privacy with the images he created. He’s probably a pedo.
“disney engineer” was all I needed.
More evidence of the ‘true pandemic’
“They have one of the Amazon Echo devices listening to everything ... All made in China.”
We have an Echo. It never occurred to me that indeed it is listening to everything within earshot. I’m not worried because our lives are mundane, but wonder how many people realize that.
Also, there’s the microphones and front-facing cameras in many computers. How do we know they’re not listening and watching?
I don’t have any of that garbage in my house. Even my security cameras are wired, every last one. Microphones and cameras on the computer are disabled and for anything important I use a computer with no internet capability whatsoever. My doorbell is an actual bell.
bttt
A multi billion dollar company lets this happen?
You’ve heard what was happening in a chatroom on work computers in the Intel community...right?
“OK Google” isn’t what makes it start listening, that’s what prompts it to finally respond. It has been listening the whole time.
““OK Google” isn’t what makes it start listening, that’s what prompts it to finally respond. It has been listening the whole time.”
Maybe we don’t have an Echo. We say “Alexa” to get its attention. It’s about the size of a croquet ball. Actually, It’s my wife’s. She likes to listen to various categories of music.
In that case, what I meant to say is that it doesn’t start listening when you say “Alexa”, that’s when it begins responding.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.