GoKawiilAnime streaming service Crunchyroll has confirmed a data breach involving customer service ticket information following an incident with a third-party vendor, after a hacker claimed to have accessed user data and internal systems.
The streaming site, which Sony acquired from AT&T in 2020 for $1.18 billion, operates as a joint venture between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan-based Aniplex. Crunchyroll has more than 2,000 titles in over 12 languages and serves 15 million subscribers worldwide, per its website.
Reports of a threat actor claiming access to Crunchyroll user data surfaced online this week, with a hacker alleging that they obtained data about millions of users.
Crunchyroll said it is investigating the claims.
“Our investigation is ongoing, and we continue to work with leading cybersecurity experts,” the company said in a statement to TechCrunch, adding that it has not identified evidence of ongoing unauthorized access.
Separately, materials shared with TechCrunch by a cybersecurity-focused account, International Cyber Digest, indicate the attacker may have gained access to Crunchyroll’s Zendesk support system. Screenshots we have seen appear to show the company’s internal Slack messages and stolen support data, apparently stolen by hacking an employee at Telus Digital, an outsourcing giant that handles customer support for Crunchyroll. The hacker allegedly stole customer support ticket data until early 2025, at which point their access was revoked.
The cybersecurity account said the hack was separate from a recent breach affecting Telus Digital, which the company confirmed last week.
Crunchyroll did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the third-party vendor relates to its support partner, Telus Digital.
Telus Digital did not respond to requests for comments.
The hacker told BleepingComputer they had downloaded about eight million support ticket records from Crunchyroll’s systems, including roughly 6.8 million unique email addresses, though the claims have not been independently verified. The hacker also told the publication they gained access on March 12 after compromising an Okta single sign-on account belonging to a Crunchyroll support agent.