According to the recent news published on Entertainment weekly, HBO has confirmed that recently, the network experienced a major cyber attack. The attack allegedly resulted in leaked content from their top series, “Game of Thrones.”
Reportedly, hackers have obtained 1.5 terabytes of data from the company and also posted the script for the upcoming fourth episode of “Game of Thrones” Season 7.
The report also mentions that many other TV shows like “Ballers” and “Room 104.” are also leaked online. Hackers are rumored to be claiming more leaks will be “coming soon”
“We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cyber security firms. Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold.”
On Sunday, an anonymous email was sent to many websites and media reporters announcing the hack, according to EW. “Hi to all mankind,” the email reads. “The greatest leak of cyber space era is happening. What’s its name? Oh, I forget to tell. It’s HBO and ‘Game of Thrones’……!!!!!! You are lucky to be the first pioneers to witness and download the leak. Enjoy it & spread the words. Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him. HBO is falling.
Winter-leak.com, a reference to the famous Game of Thrones “Winter is Coming” phrase, does indeed list several files that appear to come from HBO.
“In a complicate operation, we successfully penetrated in to the HBO Internal Network, Emails, technical platforms, and database and got precious and confidential stuff that blaze your eyes,” the hacker, or hackers write on their website.
The hackers claim to have 1.5 terabytes of data from the company. So far, previously unreleased episodes of Ballers, Barry, Insecure and Room 104 are featured on the site. However, there are also three separate archives listed, with over a terabyte of data.
Most prominent, perhaps, is a preliminary outline of the fourth episode of the current Game of Thrones season, which will air this coming Sunday.
The Game of Thrones information, for example, lists a preliminary outline of the fourth episode of season 7, including many spoilers. As can be seen below, the outline itself is watermarked by the hackers, with the tagline “HBO is falling.”
Perhaps even more unusual, the leak also includes a video, featuring Game of Thrones images, the leaders, and a textual outline of the episode. As with the outline, the videos are available for the third and fourth episode of season 7.
HBO’s chairman and CEO, Richard Plepler, has confirmed that the company’s infrastructure was breached, but didn’t mention what information was accessed. He sent an email to employees a few hours ago, informing them about the “cyber incident.”
“As most of you have probably heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming. Any intrusion of this nature is obviously disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing for all of us. I can assure you that senior leadership and our extraordinary technology team, along with outside experts, are working round the clock to protect our collective interests.”
The full contents of the leaks have yet to be analyzed. It’s doubtful that any Game of Thrones episodes will leak, but there’s likely to be a lot of confidential information in the copied data, which HBO would otherwise prefer to keep to itself.
HBO has already mentioned that it’s doing everything in its power to prevent the leaks from spreading any further. In addition, they are also working with law enforcement to track down the people responsible.
