The series ‘Game of Thrones’ is all anybody seems to be talking about lately, and fans of the show are eagerly awaiting each episode’s arrival with baited breath. However, the 4th episode of season 7 of the show, which was due to be shown on Monday, has been leaked online by a group of relentless hackers!
Over the past 6 seasons of the show, GOT has fallen victim to numerous leaks and hacks. The first 3 episodes of season 7 were kept well under wraps, but ‘The Spoils of War’ was not so lucky. HBO has been left reeling from this recent disaster.
A Star India spokesperson gave a statement, saying that they take the breach very seriously and are using forensics and other methods to determine the cause of the leak. They acknowledge that it is a dire issue and are looking to take legal action.
A hacker group that breached HBO’s network a summary of the unseen episode of GOT and other shows were put online. They also uploaded a text file of the episode, along with an annotated video of the script. However, many eagle eye viewers noticed that the episode was dated April 2016, which suggested it was a draught and not the finished episode.
On a site the hackers made to host what they stole, they also uploaded 3 more HBO shows popular episodes. Two episodes of the comedy show ‘Barry’ were uploaded, along with an episode of ‘’The Insecure show’. This hacker group managed to take a massive 1.5 terabytes of data from the company, including 5 more draught scripts from GOT. ‘Ballers’ and ‘Room 104’ were also leaked online afterwards.
It is thought that files containing log in details for members of HBO staff were also leaked, as well as season 7’s cast phone numbers and addresses! The network’s nightmare just seems to be getting worse and worse. The network is now thought to be held at ransom by the hackers to prevent further leaks from happening, with the hackers insisting that the network pay a bitcoin random. We are yet to find out whether HBO are giving in to demands.
In spite of the GOT episode leak, it was the most watched episode so far, breaking the series’ previous own records. 10.2 million people tuned in to watch season 7 episode 4. This number doesn’t include people who watched it online or through the HBO app, which is sure to push the number even higher.
These numbers are impressive since the episode was leaked a few mornings before. This just goes to show that Game Of Thrones is a fantasy series to be reckoned with. However, there are 3 episodes left in the season, and the finale usually ends on a cliffhanger (if you pay attention to past finales). This could mean that ‘The Spoils Of War’ doesn’t remain the most watched episode for long. HBO will no doubt be hoping that the last 3 episodes are not leaked before the airing date.
Jenny has been reporting on small business issues since 2001 where she held a number of freelance positions across the leading SME publications in the UK. Specialist subjects included SME financing and tax.