‘Biggest collection of celebrity data’: Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence, Morgan Freeman among stars caught in alleged Tribeca Film Festival leak

Major Hollywood stars, including Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Martin Scorsese, Rami Malek, and many others became victims of cyberattack and their personal details were breached, a report has claimed. Jeremiah Fowler told The Sun personal information such as phone numbers and private email addresses were made publicly accessible online, putting the celebs at risk of being targeted by crooks. Fowler called it ‘by far the biggest collection of celebrity data I’ve ever seen’.

Other Hollywood A-listers Jennifer Lawrence, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, and directors George Lucas and Danny Boyle are also said to have been embroiled in the alleged leak last month.

ALSO READ: Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin and Larry Page: Tech billionaires are flocking to America’s second-most expensive metro area and it’s not California or New York

Personal data leaked after Tribeca Film Festival

The stars’ phone numbers and email addresses were reportedly revealed after a Tribeca Film Festival database, simply named “contacts”, was accidentally made public online. Researcher Jeremiah Fowler, a researcher for Black Hills Information Security, claimed he discovered the document days before the festival started on 3 June.

The personal info of stars were found among a tranche of 666,369 records relating to New York’s annual Tribeca Film Festival, which was launched in 2002 by Hollywood star Robert De Niro. Fowler claimed he saw details for Jolie and De Niro.

ALSO READ: Oprah Winfrey says life starts at 44

Fowler told The Sun it was “by far the biggest collection of celebrity data I’ve ever seen”. He contacted organisers of the Tribeca Film Festival – a New York event founded by De Niro – to let them know, the report claimed.

“There were many, many household names in the records who could have been targeted with ­malware. There were names, phone numbers and email addresses. “What was really interesting was that there was a folder that captured their device information based off the email.“It would say what version of an iPhone they were using, if they were using [web browser] Safari, what version of the software they were using. That could give the bad guys a lot of additional information.”

ALSO READ: ‘How and where to kill Melania Trump?’: Iran’s Tasnim News Agency releases chilling video targeting US First Lady, tells Barron Trump ‘wait for us’

Fowler said the festival swiftly removed the databases and told him it “takes matters of data security very seriously and is actively investigating this issue”.

“What was really interesting was that there was a folder that captured their device information based off the email. It would say what version of an iPhone they were using, if they were using Safari, what version of the software they were using. That could give the bad guys a lot of additional information,” he added about the breach.

Writing in a blog about his discovery, Fowler, who described himself as “an ethical security researcher”, said he didn’t download the data, but reviewed a limited number of records to verify and responsibly report on the nature of an exposure.

“My goal is to responsibly notify relevant parties and raise awareness about the importance of protecting potentially sensitive data,” he wrote.

All about Tribeca Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival was co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 to help revive Lower Manhattan’s economy in the aftermath of the September 11 (9/11) terrorist attacks. Held annually in New York City, the festival celebrates films, television series, documentaries, short films, games, immersive storytelling, and music. In June 2026, the Tribeca Film Festival marked its 25th anniversary with a milestone edition. Today, it hosts more than 600 screenings each year and attracts approximately 150,000 attendees from around the world.