Hacked Disney+ Accounts Are Being Sold Online

The eagerly-anticipated launch of Disney+ finally happened last week with users sitting up late to [...]

By Nicole Drum

The eagerly-anticipated launch of Disney+ finally happened last week with users sitting up late to be among the first to access the massive content library to binge old favorites such as Gargoyles as well as check out new, original content such as the first episode of Star Wars: The Mandalorian. Early into the launch, however, customers were beset with a number of problems and, for some, that included something far worse than technical issues and buffering problems. Some users found that their accounts had been hacked and now those hacked accounts are showing up for sale online.

According to ZDNet, soon after the Disney+ launch some users were taking to social media to report that they were getting notices that their accounts had been accessed with the email and passwords changed, effectively locking them out of the account entirely. This included users who had pre-paid for the 3-year accounts and, based on some of the complaints on social media, Disney+'s customer service didn't appear to be particularly prepared for the situation.

"[Disney Twitter] has anyone's @disneyplus account been hacked? My friend's was; hackers changed email and password. Now she's completely blocked from her 3-year prepaid Disney+ account. She's been on hold for >2 hours," one post on Twitter read.

Those hacked accounts soon ended up for sale online with prices as low as $3 and as high as $11 -- which is more than the $6.99 per month a legitimate Disney+ account costs per month. As ZDNet noted, some of the users they had spoken with admitted that they had reused passwords for their Disney+ accounts which could account for the ease with which some accounts were hacked, but others did not. Even beyond the method of hacking, it's astounding at how quickly accounts were stolen, leading some users to complain that Disney hadn't put adequate security in place.

While there are certainly measures that Disney+ could employ to help secure accounts -- two-factor authentication comes to mind -- the hacking and sale of Disney+ accounts aren't unique to the fledgling streaming service. Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and others have also dealt with this situation. Hacked accounts remain a popular "black market" item.

Even with all of the issues Disney+ faced at launch, Disney+ has been a huge success in terms of subscriptions. The House of Mouse revealed last week that just 24 hours after launch in the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, Disney+ had already amassed 10 million subscribers -- and those numbers will only increase as the service's life continues.

Have you subscribed to Disney+ yet? Let us know what you think about the new streaming service in the comments below. If you haven't checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

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