Logo

Target Security Breach Inspires Movie Deal

Mar 21, 2014  •  Post A Comment

A cyber security blogger is the focus of a movie deal with Sony, according to an exclusive by The Hollywood Reporter. Brian Krebs, who runs the site KrebsonSecurity.com and was reportedly the first person to expose the Target credit card breach back in December, is at the center of the project.

Sony picked up rights to a New York Times story, "Reporting From the Web’s Underbelly," which focused on the work of Krebs. Richard Wenk, the screenwriter for Sony’s feature "The Equalizer," is set to write a screenplay adapted from the Times piece.

The project "is being envisioned as a cyber-thriller inspired by the article and set in the high-stakes international criminal world of cyber-crime," THR reports.

"Escape Artists’ Steve Tisch, Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal are producing as are Todd Hoffman and Richard Arlook. David Bloomfield will executive produce," the report notes.

The story adds: "Nicole Perlroth’s New York Times article told of Krebs, who has the appearance of a mild-mannered accountant but writes with a 12-gauge shotgun by his side, is an expert in the digital underground and is on a first-name basis with some of the biggest cyber-criminals in the world, many of whom are Russian."

Krebs is a former tech reporter for The Washington Post, the piece notes.

"When his editors wanted him to broaden his beat, he refused and was let go. That’s when he created his own blog, which hit it big when he was first to report about Target’s breach in security in December when millions of credit card numbers were stolen," THR reports. "For his work, Krebs had his identity stolen half a dozen times and had fecal matter and heroin sent to his house. Once, a SWAT team was called to his home just as his mother was arriving in an incident of ‘swatting’ committed by hackers."

brian krebs.jpgBrian Krebs

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)