A number of high-profile Hollywood stars, including Robert De Niro and Angelina Jolie, have reportedly had personal contact information exposed online following an alleged data breach linked to the Tribeca Film Festival.
The reported breach was uncovered by cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who described it as one of the largest celebrity-related data exposures he has encountered.
According to Fowler, the leak originated from three publicly accessible databases connected to the New York-based film festival, which was co-founded by De Niro. The exposed records reportedly contained phone numbers and private email addresses belonging to a number of well-known figures in the entertainment industry.
“There were many, many household names in the records who could have been targeted with malware,” Fowler told The Sun. “There were names, phone numbers and email addresses.” Among those reportedly affected were filmmaker Martin Scorsese, Star Wars creator George Lucas, actors Neil Patrick Harris, Rami Malek, Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas, as well as British director Danny Boyle.
Fowler said the breach was particularly concerning because of the level of privacy usually maintained by those affected. “It’s really unique because these individuals are so guarded and they protect their personal privacy, their contacts, their phone numbers,” he said.
After identifying the exposed databases, Fowler said he contacted the Tribeca Film Festival, after which the information was removed from public access. He later received an email from a legal executive stating that the organisation was “actively investigating this issue.”
“They responded pretty quickly, so it was obvious they knew what it was and that it shouldn’t have been there,” Fowler added. A source told The Sun that the “vast majority” of the leaked contact details belonged to managers and agents rather than the celebrities themselves.
The Tribeca Film Festival has not publicly commented on the reported breach. There is no indication that the exposed information was accessed or misused before the databases were secured.