HBO hackers make away with unaired episodes of Ballers and Room 104, script for Game of...

[Shawn Knight]

Hackers recently infiltrated HBO’s network and made away with unaired episodes of some of its top shows as well as a script for a future Game of Thrones episode.

HBO confirmed with Entertainment Weekly on Monday that it recently experienced a “cyber incident” that resulted in the compromise of proprietary information. The network didn’t specify exactly what had been stolen.

The publication notes that the hackers claim to have obtained 1.5TB of data and have already put upcoming episode of Ballers and Room 104 online. Also reportedly online is a script that’s allegedly for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones. Thus far, no Game of Thrones episodes have leaked from this season.

HBO said it immediately began investigating the incident and is working with both law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms.

This isn’t the first time HBO has dealt with leaks.

In 2015, the first four episodes of season five of Game of Thrones hit the Internet ahead of the season premiere. Those leaks originated from early screenings sent to reviewers, prompting the network to end its practice of sending episodes to reviewers in advance.

Game of Throne has been the most pirated show on TV for several years running. It’s so large and important to HBO that the network even forces the show’s stars to use two-factor authentication on their e-mail accounts.

The season seven finale is set to air on August 27.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70371-hbo-hackers-make-away-unaired-episodes-ballers-room.html

 

[treetops]

I saw the first Room 104 it's pretty good. As for the leaks I haven't seen any episodes posted online using a quick google search.

 

[Godel]

Just the usual breath-taking incompetence.

Why was private intellectual property stored on a public facing website (or at least network)?

If they couldn't or wouldn't air gap it, why wasn't it encrypted at rest?

 

[Evernessince]

Just the usual breath-taking incompetence.

Why was private intellectual property stored on a public facing website (or at least network)?

If they couldn't or wouldn't air gap it, why wasn't it encrypted at rest?

Likely because HBO does work all around the world and can't be expected to only have employees do work at the office. For certain professions like game design, keeping code on computers that aren't connected to the internet is easy. For others, like content studios, that have actors and sets around the world, it is impossible.

No one specified if the content was encrypted or not. It may have been

 

[Theinsanegamer]

A story as old as time. Studio declares war on pirates, gets their stuff stolen before it releases.

Good job HBO. Maybe worry about producing content rather then trying to defeat pirates like every studio that proceeded you figured out the hard way.

 

[MonsterZero]

Thanks to impatient hackers we can't have nice things. Thanks guys...really.