HBO hack! Hacker/s threaten the network “will fall”
Winter just came for HBO.
On Jul 27, the premium cable and satellite TV network was the subject of a sophisticated cyberattack that could expose as much as 1.5 terabytes of data, according to Internet security experts who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter. It was a coordinated attack that targeted specific content and data housed in different locations which suggests multiple points of entry.
A Variety report says that a security company hired by Home Box Office, or HBO, to scrub search results for the hacked files from search engines told Google that the hackers stole “thousands of HBO internal documents.” They did away with “masses of copyrighted items including documents, images, videos and sound.”
Three days later, hackers going by the username little.finger66 bragged about pulling off “the greatest leak of cyber space era”. To prove their point, they provided a teaser in the form of a script for the August 6 episode of Game of Thrones. At the same time, unaired episodes of new HBO series Ballers and Room 104 began surfacing online.
Most recently, an e-mail supposedly from the hacker or hackers behind the HBO breach is making fresh threats against the network. “HBO (specially Poor Richard) is Bluffing. We have ‘STILL’ full access to their webmails…” read the e-mail procured by THR. It’s a reference to the memo that HBO’s Chief Executive Officer, Richard Plepler, had sent to the network’s employees that downplayed the possibility of widespread e-mail exposure.
The hackers’ e-mail went on to state: “It’s just about money. We have weeks of negotiations with HBO officials, but they broke their promises and want to play with us… So we have one option…Wait till Sunday (Aug 6). HBO is Falling….”
On top of all that, the August 6 episode of Game of Thrones has leaked online as well. This wasn’t part of the hack but rather a breach at Star India, a network partner which distributes the series in that region.
This incident is not unlike the breach suffered by Sony back in 2014, in which private information and revealing e-mail exchanges between the studio’s upper management, including their plans for another Spider-Man reboot, were leaked. It was a PR nightmare and brought the company to its knees.
Here’s hoping HBO recovers from all this. We need them to continue producing quality content for us all.
The post HBO hack! Hacker/s threaten the network “will fall” appeared first on Geek Crusade.
