HBO
It has not been a great month for HBO. While season seven of Game of Thrones has garnered the highest ratings in the show’s history, the network has been plagued by a number of leaks stemming from an attack by a collective of hackers that resulted in 1.5 TB of data being stolen. Multiple episodes of the show have been released before their air date— including one self-inflicted wound— but HBO has so far refused to pay the hackers the demanded $6.5 million Bitcoin ransom that would allegedly prevent further leaks from happening.
The hackers have been in constant contact with Mashable, who received an email today containing a summary of the plot points of the final episode of the season, which is set to air on Sunday night. The website didn’t publish any details, but based on the past leaks, it seems like it’s only a matter of time before they magically appear online.
The hackers added that they have started selling the data to people on the deep web in lieu of collecting a ransom, saying:
“By the way, we officially inform you and other hundred of reporters whom emailing us that we sold ‘HBO IS FALLING’s entire collection (5 TB!!!) to 3 customer in deep web and we earned half of requested ransom. We put a condition for our respected customers and they approved. We will leak many many waves of HBO’s internal stuff to punish them for playing us and set an example of greedy corporation.”
HBO responded to the news of the leak with the same statement they used previously:
“The hacker may continue to drop bits and pieces of stolen information in an attempt to generate media attention. That’s a game we’re not going to participate in.”
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Be careful. The night is dark and full of spoilers.