Hackers hacked the account of the vice president of the American publisher Viz Media

Hackers have hacked the account of the vice president of the American publisher Viz Media — the copyright holder of *Naruto, Demon Slayer, Sailor Moon*. The attackers claim to have downloaded over 250 GB of data, including corporate emails, NDAs, agreements, employee SSNs and credentials.

Large-scale Viz Media hack: leak of confidential data by the authors of the attack on the account of a top manager. The hackers stated on an underground forum that they had gained access to the account of the vice president of Viz Media — the largest manga publisher in the United States.

According to the attackers’ post, they gained access to:

• corporate Google Drive

• Gmail

• Viz Media’s internal dashboards

• royalty management systems

• employee credentials

Only a sample of the data has been published, and the full package is being sold by cybercriminals for a five-figure sum.

Researchers believe that the compromise occurred through social engineering. The extent of access to internal systems indicates a high level of privilege for the compromised account. Viz Media is the largest manga publisher in the US, distributing *Naruto, One Punch Man, Demon Slayer, Death Note, Sailor Moon*. The company is owned by Japan’s Shogakukan–Shueisha Productions, has ~300 employees, and generates $40–100 million in revenue. The forum where the hackers announced the attack is often used by early access brokers — cybercriminals who sell access to corporate networks.

The incident demonstrates a critical cybersecurity problem — compromising one privileged account = access to the entire company. Viz Media has not yet commented on the leak — but for corporate customers and partners, there are potential risks of phishing, fraud, and leakage of confidential licensing data.