Hyderabad: Following the arrest of iBomma founder Immadi Ravi, cyber experts investigating the biggest piracy-related case that has cost the Telugu film industry over ‘24,000 crore are said to have uncovered the methods he used to pirate films. The officials learnt that Ravi was also earning money through betting apps on iBomma, which they would be probing into.
Police source said that Ravi during questioning had confessed to infiltrating high-security servers of digital film distributors to steal movie releases before their official launch.
Ravi, who was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody, reportedly confessed that he had developed advanced bypass tools and exploited vulnerabilities in content delivery networks used by legitimate streaming platforms and cinema distribution systems.
“These systems, protected by multiple layers of digital rights management (DRM) and encryption, are designed to prevent unauthorised access to high-value films,” a police officer said.
Investigating officials revealed that Ravi targeted servers hosting newly uploaded cinema masters by using compromised credentials obtained from insiders and by deploying specialised decoding scripts capable of intercepting encrypted data streams.
Once decrypted, the stolen copies were uploaded to iBomma, where pirated versions were distributed globally. Cybersecurity experts note that such operations require deep technical expertise in studio-grade encryption models and watermarking systems.
After the officials forced Ravi to crash his iBomma, the app remained inaccessible to viewers across the country.
An analysis of the seized data and devices seized from Ravi showed that he had allegedly collaborated with a network of tech specialists who helped disguise his activity across international servers, police said. The State Cyber Crime Wing (TGCSB) has also launched a parallel probe into the case.
The investigators say the case has exposed serious gaps in the digital protection systems used across India’s film industry. Authorities are working with service providers to strengthen server-side authentication, blockchain-based tracking and dynamic watermarking to prevent similar breaches.
On Saturday, special chief secretary home C.V. Anand, police commissioner during an earlier bust of a piracy racket, congratulated cyber crimes DCP Dara Kavitha for finally arresting the person who challenged the police saying “Dammunte pattukondi nannu (catch me if you dare)”.
He stated the cyber crime team had worked from June 5 onwards and arrested all the key players involved in this piracy, except Ravi who was arrested last week.
