THIS WEEKEND, THE same email landed in the inboxes of an untold number of entertainment journalists. “1.5 TB of HBO data just leaked!!!” screamed the subject header, while the email itself, addressed "to all mankind," promised “the greatest leak of space era” and a link to a site that hosts an unreleased Game of Thrones script and not-yet-aired episodes of Ballers, Insecure, Room 104, and Barry.
According to the hackers, there’s plenty more where that came from.
HBO has confirmed that an attack happened, though not the scope. “There has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming,” wrote HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler in an email to employees. With streaming hacks like this one, though, it remains to be seen if size correlates with impact.
The Hack
On Sunday morning, an email from an unnamed group—though they appear to have adopted the tagline “HBO is falling”—went out to reporters, telling them, “You are lucky to be the first pioneers to witness and download the leak. Enjoy it & spread the words.”
In addition to the link mentioned above, the email also included contact information for HBO communications VP Jeff Cusson.
Details of the hack itself are scarce, and HBO declined to comment on what it deemed an ongoing investigation. But unlike other recent high-profile Hollywood hacks, which relied on lax third-party security systems, the HBO hackers claim to have compromised HBO itself.
“We successfully penetrated HBO’s huge network and gathered most imporatnt [sic] files and films & scripts and so on,” one of the hackers wrote in an email to WIRED, promising both full episodes of Game of Thrones and upcoming feature films (presumably HBO originals). The hacker, identified in the email as “Mr. Smith,” also claimed to have “obtained alot [sic] about HBO’s staff and internal stuff.”
None of this has been verified, and hackers frequently overstate their claims. If true, though, this may ultimately resemble the Sony hack of 2014 more than Netflix’s recent Orange Is the New Black leak—which would be especially troubling for HBO.
For more details head over to the source link >>>
WIRED
No comments:
Post a Comment