Toho, the renowned Japanese entertainment company behind iconic films like Godzilla, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and Seven Samurai, was allegedly breached by the BlackLock ransomware gang. According to Cybernews, the group claimed to have compromised the studio, but investigations revealed that most of the leaked data sample links were either nonfunctional or contained irrelevant information. This suggests that while the breach was attempted, no significant data exfiltration or operational disruption occurred. Toho has not publicly confirmed or responded to the hack. The incident follows a broader trend of BlackLock’s aggressive expansion, with the gang emerging in March 2024 and rapidly becoming the seventh most active ransomware group after a 1,425% surge in attacks between Q3 and Q4 2024. Earlier, Resecurity researchers disrupted BlackLock’s operations by exploiting a vulnerability in their infrastructure, indicating potential weaknesses in the gang’s capabilities. Despite the breach claim, the lack of verifiable leaked data and Toho’s silence imply minimal tangible impact on the company’s operations, reputation, or financial standing at this stage.

The Maine Office of the Attorney General reported that 32 Bar Blues LLC experienced an external system breach between September 18, 2020, and February 3, 2022, affecting a total of 77,303 individuals, including 389 Rhode Island residents. The incident was discovered on March 1, 2022, and notification was provided on October 6, 2022. The compromised information included payment card data.