On Monday, HBO confirmed that a group of hackers had stolen 1.5 terabytes of data, including original programming and unaired content. The group allegedly managed to compromise a script for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones and upcoming episodes of Room 104 and Ballers.
The cyber criminals sent out a notice to several prominent media outlets, claiming that whichever of them “spread well” the leaks would be conceded an exclusive interview. Hackers also promised to release more content soon.
Richard Plepler, CEO and Chairman of HBO, sent out a mass email to network employees condemning the cyber attack on Monday morning. The executive said law enforcement agencies and cyber security firms were already involved in the leaks investigation.
HBO should be worried about cyber attacks targeting new content
“The greatest leak of [the] cyber space era,” as it was hailed by hackers, is not the first time that HBO deals with stolen content or Game of Thrones’ leaks. As many will remember, the first four episodes of the fifth season were uploaded online ahead of their premiere in 2015.
In that occasion, channel representatives said the incident originated from internal practices that have since been abandoned. HBO used to send screeners to the press before the actual episodes aired in their prime time slot so that reviewers could have their pieces up and ready when they ended.
However, past incidents including leaked scenes and trailers of pivotal moments of the show have all been the result of accidents, whereas this leak is the first instance in which people purposefully go after content to publish it online.
The timing is particularly worrisome since we are halfway through the seventh season and key parts of the story are expected to unravel in the remaining four episodes of Game of Thrones this summer. Moreover, it has recently been reported that Season 8 scripts have already been finished.
Game of Thrones’ Season 7 plot has already leaked
WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS
For what is worth, some of the most avid fans of the show might disregard the threats of leaks and spoilers as not relevant, since by now it is widely accepted among that community that the entire Season 7 plot has already been leaked.
Nearly a year ago, a Reddit user by the name of u/awayforthelads posted a lengthy breakdown of all the episodes of the season, which described the timeline of events in excruciating detail, save for a few loose ends.
Fans over at the r/freefolk subreddit waited months for the season premiere to confirm their suspicions and, as it turns out, he was right. A Spanish YouTuber called Frikidoctor has posted similar spoiler retellings of every episode, including the season finale most recently.
Source: Entertainment Weekly