Hackers Demand Millions from HBO

Hackers who breached HBO's computers have released another batch of stolen files and demanded millions of dollars in ransom from the network, threatening to publish unaired episodes of its series and various sensitive data.

Natalia Bartkiewicz

9 August 2017• 2 min read

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Hackers who breached HBO's computers have released another batch of stolen files and demanded millions of dollars in ransom from the network, threatening to publish unaired episodes of its series and various sensitive data.

A 5-minute video attached to the data from a person using the pseudonym Mr. Smith, addressed to network chief Richard Plepler, gives HBO three days to pay the ransom. The hackers threaten that if their demands are not met, they will publish 1.5 terabytes of stolen data.

HBO, which has acknowledged that data belonging to the network was stolen, responded that it is continuing its investigation into the matter and cooperating with police and cybersecurity experts.

The hackers claim that blackmailing various kinds of organizations whose networks they have breached brings them USD 12-15 million a year. Now they have demanded from HBO the equivalent of their "six months' pay in the virtual currency bitcoin." They added that they will communicate only with Plepler and will send "only one letter" describing the details of the ransom payment.

A total of 3.4 gigabytes of data was released - mainly technical specifications of HBO's computer network topology, a list of the network's administrators along with access passwords, a draft script for five episodes of the series "Game of Thrones," and one month's worth of emails from one of the board members.

About 50 of the published documents were marked as "confidential," including spreadsheets containing a list of lawsuits against the network, job offers for senior executive staff, and slides describing the network's technology plans.

The hackers said that breaching HBO's network took them six months, and warned that they will publish unaired episodes of various series with the added logo "HBO is falling." They also claim this is their 17th ransom demand and that only three victims refused to pay.

The network initially assessed that not all email inboxes were compromised.

source: forsal.pl

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