Hackers claim Godzilla creator breach, researchers think otherwise

The company behind the recent Oscar winner Godzilla Minus One, Toho, was posted on a dark web site cybercriminals use to showcase their latest victims.

The legendary Japanese entertainment company was claimed by the BlackLock ransomware group. First identified in early 2024, the gang has gained notoriety over the years, breaching numerous companies.

However, the recent claim of a Toho breach doesn’t appear to hold up to scrutiny. The Cybernews research team tried investigating the data breach claims, yet no useful information was found.

Most of the links containing supposed data samples don’t work, and the ones that do are full of completely useless information.

We have reached out to Toho for comment regarding data breach claims and will update the article once we receive a reply.

Toho is a major Japanese entertainment company, best known for creating Godzilla. The company is the largest movie maker in Japan, with Toho’s latest installment of the famous monster character, Godzilla Minus One, winning an Academy Award in the Best Visual Effects category.

The company is known for other legendary titles such as Seven Samurai, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Hidden Fortress, and many others. Toho employs over 3,600 staff and reported a revenue exceeding $2 billion in 2024.

Meanwhile, BlackLock has recently gotten a taste of its own medicine after security firm Resecurity discovered a flaw in the gang's infrastructure and managed to hack the hackers.

BlackLock was active from March 2024, when it rapidly accelerated attacks. By Q4 2024, it ranked as the 7th most prolific ransomware group on data-leak sites, fueled by a staggering 1,425% increase in activity from Q3. According to Cybernews’ dark web tracker Ransomlooker, the gang has victimized at least 63 organizations over the last 12 months.