HBO has joined the ranks of Hollywood entertainment companies to suffer a major cyber attack.
Upcoming episodes of a couple series and at least one alleged script or treatment have been put online by hackers who breached the company’s systems — with more threatened to be coming soon, Entertainment Weekly reports.
“HBO recently experienced a cyber incident, which resulted in the compromise of proprietary information,” the network confirmed in a statement. “We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms. Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold.”
Hackers claimed to have obtained 1.5 terabytes of data from the company. So far, an upcoming episode of "Ballers" and "Room 104" have apparently been put online. There is also written material that’s allegedly from next week’s fourth episode of "Game of Thrones". More is promised to be “coming soon.”
HBO is not commenting on what content might have been stolen, confirming specific titles or the amount of data accessed.
On Sunday, July 30, an anonymous email was sent to many reporters announcing the hack: “Hi to all mankind. The greatest leak of cyber space era is happening. What’s its name? Oh I forget to tell. Its HBO and Game of Thrones……!!!!!! You are lucky to be the first pioneers to witness and download the leak. Enjoy it & spread the words. Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him. HBO is falling.”
