Disney

Disney to ditch Slack following July data breach

The company's Slack server was hacked in July, leading to more than a terabyte of company data being leaked to the public.

The Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse float passes by during the daily Festival of Fantasy Parade at the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World on May 31, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. 
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

The Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse float passes by during the daily Festival of Fantasy Parade at the Magic Kingdom Park at Walt Disney World on May 31, 2024, in Orlando, Florida. 

  • The Walt Disney Company will no longer use Slack for in-house company communication.
  • The company's Slack server was hacked in July, leading to more than a terabyte of company data being leaked to the public.
  • Most of Disney's business units will move away from Slack usage by the end Disney's next fiscal quarter, according to a memo from Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston that was obtained by CNBC.

The Walt Disney Company will no longer use Slack for in-house company communication months after a hack that involved more than a terabyte of company data being leaked to the public.

The company had already begun to transition to a new internal "streamlined enterprise-wide collaboration tools," but officially notified employees and cast members Thursday that most of its business units would move away from Slack usage by the end Disney's next fiscal quarter, according to a memo from Disney Chief Financial Officer Hugh Johnston that was obtained by CNBC.

Disney told investors in August that the summer data hack, which included a range of financial information, computer codes and details about unreleased projects, was not expected to have a material impact on the company's operations or financial performance.

Representatives from Disney and Salesforce, the owner of Slack, did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

"Our security is rock-solid," Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said during an interview with Bloomberg at the company's annual Dreamforce conference this week.

"Companies also have to take the right measure to prevent phishing attacks and to lockdown their employees' social engineering," he added. "So, we can do our part, but our customers also have to do their part."

Benioff noted that Disney continues to use Salesforce products in other aspects of its business including its Disney store, Disney guides, sales and service operations and its call centers.

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