After hackers made headlines about the “Game of Thrones” episode leaks, the group has now targeted the top executives’ emails and scripts. It appears that the hackers have more of HBO's internal documents and they are demanding millions of Bitcoin as ransom.
Hackers release script and executive emails
HBO has become the latest victim of an elaborate hacking scheme, and it seems that the hackers aren’t through based on a recent report by the Associated Press. The hacker or hackers, going by the name Mr. Smith, just dumped loads of documents comprising of “Game of Thrones” script and loads of emails from Leslie Cohen, the premium cable’s vice president for film programming.
This is the second data dump made by the hackers, suggesting the gravity of HBO’s security breach.
The stolen files, which includes five “Game of Thrones” script and a month’s worth of emails from Leslie Cohen, were leaked on Monday. The stolen scripts include upcoming episodes of "Game of Thrones" for this season. The scripts were watermarked “HBO is Falling,” according to Wired. More importantly, the stolen emails contain financial balance sheets, reports of legal claims against HBO and several job offer letters to a number of top executives.
Hackers demand ransom
On top of this, the hackers are now demanding a ransom from HBO, threatening to release additional data they allegedly obtained.
The hackers sent a video letter to Richard Plepler, HBO’s chief executive. It reportedly shows a scroll unfolding while the “Game of Thrones” musical score plays along. “We successfully breached into your huge network. HBO was one of our challenging targets to deal with, but we succeeded (it took about six months),” it reads on the scroll via THR.
It continued, asking for at least $6 million worth of Bitcoin as compensation.
HBO is firm on its claim that the cyber attack hasn’t compromised their internal email as evidenced by the ongoing forensic review. However, the network admitted that further leaks are likely to follow after the upcoming episodes for the “Game of Thrones” were leaked.
The first hack was reported on July 31 after several upcoming episodes from several of HBO’s hit TV series were made public. “Game of Thrones,” “Ballers,” “Insecure” and “ Room 104” were among these tv show. Overall, the hackers claim to have stolen 1.5 terabytes of data. As of publishing time, they have dumped around 800 megabytes worth of data already.
Stay tuned for more updates on this report. Check out the video below for further discussion on the depth of HBO's security breach.
