Matthew 'Dutch' Van Andel
Appearances
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
You know, this whole week, I had been surviving on the support of all these people at Disney. Calling me, checking in, reaching out, making sure I'm okay. Saying, look, this could happen to anybody. Don't beat yourself up over it. It's not your fault. You know? And then this.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
It did. I thought they did. I thought they supported me. I thought they were going to protect me. And my support network is gone. Again, you know, I've been there for a long time. You spend more time with those people than you do with your own family.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Yes. I considered many of them genuine friends.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
It's like my identity was tied up there and it was just taken away. You know? I don't know. It just feels like I'm in my 40s. You know? I'm not getting any younger. But my career has been thrown way, way, way back. And there's no catching up. There's no getting it back.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
I always thought that I had a good security posture. Obviously, little oversights are all it takes. I want to say hackers are getting sophisticated, but it's not even a matter of sophistication. It's just they can throw very wide nets, very unsophisticated wide nets, and just have patience. I didn't think about this computer being anything other than a toy.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
These people, they may not be targeting you, but just because you work for somebody that they find interesting, they will destroy you to get at it.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
I always figured, if you get some malware on there, reformat Windows. Maybe lose some games, reinstall them. You know, what's the worst that could possibly happen on there?
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Started with just curling the corners with some wax, and I wanted to make a loop. Uh-huh. But it turns out, every time it gets hot, my hair is stubborn, and that loop turns into a hoop. So I just started keeping it straight instead. Dutch is 43, and his real name is Matthew. I tend to go by Dutch because there's just too many Matts everywhere you go. Right. I was the Dutch Matt.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And then it just became Dutch. The Dutch? Are you Dutch? Yeah, yeah. It's, well, you know, family name, Van Andel. Grandparents were Dutch, so I'm like third generation, something like that.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
So in May, we have our credit cards stolen. We're racking up thousands of dollars in these fraudulent credit card charges on like all of our credit cards. And it's really bizarre and I can't figure out what exactly is going on.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And there's this suspicious direct message. The person's like, Frank something something. And ordinarily, I just delete unsolicited direct messages from strangers. But this one was really long.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
I think there is no way they should have this. There's no way they should have that Slack conversation.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
The only way they have that Slack conversation is somehow my work computer is compromised. So immediately, I close the work computer.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And I say, hey... I got this thing, it sounds like an extortion message, and they have a thing in there from Slack that they should not have access to.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And immediately it picks up this file. Vision LLM in my downloads. One says, oh, Trojan detected. So I'm like, Vision LLM, what is that? I can barely remember it.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
So I look it up. And I find this Reddit thread where somebody's like, this is malware, it steals all your passwords. If you downloaded this, change all of your passwords immediately, like right now, that somebody has your passwords. So I let InfoSec know, I'm like, you know, I think they maybe got in through my PC.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And that's where it starts setting in, like this panic. You know, I'm still not sure, like, how they had gotten to the Disney system. So, like, you know, we're trying to work through. It's like, well, how could they get past, like, the two-factor authentication?
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And this one is exactly the same as the Discord message. So they're definitely trying to get a hold of me, you know? And the timing is also weird. Like, it's like, why am I getting this now while I'm like here in my email?
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Yes. And I like kind of panic and I like hit the trash button. And then they send a third email saying, we saw what you did. Oh my God. That's where things start to get bad. You know they're watching you.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
They're not just in Slack. They're in my email. That means they're probably in my Discord. And I'm thinking, how? How is this possible? It doesn't take long for me to figure out, maybe just a few seconds, they're in my 1Password. It is the only way.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Like generate pictures of Easter buddies and Roblox people and, you know, stuff like that.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And I tell InfoSec, oh my God, I think they got my one password. They have to have my two-factor codes. This is the only way they could get into this stuff. So at that point, you know, they're like, okay, well, you need to work on securing your personal stuff.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
So the game plan, like immediately I'm like, how do I get them out? And they have threatened to retaliate. So I think, okay, I need to secure our financial accounts first. Secure bank accounts and all financials, secure social media, secure medical, secure all this like sensitive personal stuff as much as I, as fast as I could right now.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
They're on my gaming PC, yes. I've already determined that like my wife's MacBook is fine. So I'm working on that. I'm working on her MacBook. So first I secure those accounts as quickly as I can.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Yeah. And we just start erasing everything. We're reformatting computers. I just go straight through the night.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Accounts are now actively hijacked. Like, people are getting into them, they're sabotaging them, they're, you know, changing passwords and... vandalizing accounts. You know, my kids' Roblox accounts were hijacked and stolen and they changed the passwords and tried to lock us out.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And I'm just, at this point now, not only am I trying to make my way through the list, but I'm trying to recover things as they're being taken. I'm trying to actively block people who are trying to get into things. And it's just non-stop.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
They're getting into things they shouldn't have because they've got my social security number, they've got my birth date, they've got my email address. You can just make a phone call and pretend to be me because you have this information.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
So, I'm not quite sure. So, you know, I didn't even realize it was that long ago at first until after the FBI had visited and I told them I would put together like a detailed timeline for them.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And then I start getting messages from press. The media is starting to reach out to me. You know, people are messaging me on LinkedIn and saying, why did you hack your employer? Because you can trust something that a hacker says on their website as they dox that person.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
So a week goes by. Again, I'm fending people off still. People are just actively, day and night, nonstop trying to get into things. I'm still having panic attacks every time my phone makes a sound. You know, like, you get the notifications as people are trying to get in. Like, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
You know, I'm like, okay, maybe I should see if I can start doing a little bit of work again. And I get this call, and it's from a Disney area code. So I pick it up, and, you know, they introduce themselves from, like, Disney HR, and they're like, how are you doing, Dutch? And I go, well, you know, I'm surviving.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And they go, well, the reason we called, you know, is during the investigation of your computer, we discovered that you had accessed pornographic content. And I'm like, I'm completely at a loss. I'm thinking, well, I guess they must have called the wrong person. And I'm like, no, I'm the one that was hacked. And they go, well, we determined that this has nothing to do with that.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
And I'm like, well, but that's not true. And they go, well, because you access pornographic content on a company computer, you're being terminated effective immediately. I don't remember much after that.
The Journal.
The Download That Led to a Massive Hack at Disney
Felt like my life was over. Everything I had built, everything I had worked for, my relationships, projects, reputation... It's all gone. I thought I was going to retire there. You know, I never thought when I started working there that I would work for a big company. But Disney is one of the few companies I actually felt kind of good about.