A number of unreleased episodes from popular HBO shows like Ballers recently surfaced online after hackers breached the company’s ostensibly secure computer systems, according to a report from Entertainment Weekly. What’s more, the hackers are believed to have also leaked a script for next week’s episode of Game of Thrones, HBO’s most popular show and arguably its largest cash cow. All told, the hackers involved in this attack reportedly managed to abscond with 1.5 terabytes of data.
In a statement provided to EW, HBO confirmed the breach and expressed the following:
HBO recently experienced a cyber incident, which resulted in the compromise of proprietary information. 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.
In a corresponding email to employees, HBO said that its technology team is already “working round the clock” with “outside exports” in order to get a handle on what went wrong and to prevent future security breaches.
At this point, it’s not apparent what type of data the hackers pilfered, save for the aforementioned Game of Thrones script and episodes of Ballers and Room 104. Notably, a message from the group behind the attack sent out an email last night implying that unreleased Game of Thrones episodes might surface online soon, but it remains to be seen if this is indeed the case.
Interestingly, Netflix just a few months back was the victim of a major security breach when all 10 episodes from the 5th season of Orange Is the New Black were leaked online before its official premiere.
