Game of Thrones hack under FBI investigation

UNITED STATES: The FBI has been called in to investigate the recent hack of HBO, the entertainment network, as the true scale of the data breach emerges.

The unidentified hackers, who struck on July 27, have released spoilers for episodes of Game of Thrones and unseen episodes of other series. They claim to have stolen 1.5 terabytes of data, equivalent to scores of HDTV episodes, or millions of emails, and have threatened to leak more content.

Three years ago hackers sponsored by North Korea caused serious embarrassment and financial damage to Sony Pictures by leaking only 200 gigabytes (0.2 terabytes) of stolen data.

HBO has sent a legal notice to force Google to remove search results for leaked files.

Richard Plepler, its chief executive, said in an email to staff that HBO did not believe its email system as a whole was compromised. However, he also said the company was hiring an outside contractor to provide credit monitoring to employees, suggesting there are fears that personal or financial information was stolen.

The hackers have already leaked what appears to be the personal data of at least one senior executive, including details of her finances and health plan.

The group is not known to have issued any ransom notice so their motive remains unclear. Security researchers said the hack could be the handiwork of state-sponsored hackers owing to the similarities with the Sony attack, but insider involvement was also possible.

In the case of Sony, the hackers demanded that executives pull a comedy film, The Interview, depicting the imagined assassination of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. Sony complied.

– The Times