The Nerds Are Coming: HBO has been hacked and the culprits are demanding millions in ransom

Hackers have recently posted a new collection of HBO files. Included in the data dump was a five-minute video detailing the hackers’ demands. HBO has 3 days to pay approximately €10 million to €12.7 million in bitcoin. If not, the hackers will upload everything else they have.
The group has already posted a small 3.4 gigabyte dumb that included documents such as scripts for previous and upcoming episodes of Game of Thrones, e-mails made by HBO executives, and even financial and contract information that is critical to HBO’s business.
There was also a screenshot showing that any future leaks could include unreleased episodes of Game of Thrones, details of the next season, and even the personal information of actors like Peter Dinklage and Emilia Clarke.
Although HBO has previously acknowledged that they had been hacked, they claim that their whole system has not been compromised. HBO has turned to the police and private cyber-security experts to examine the extent of the theft.
Even though many eager Game of Thrones fans might be tempted to examine the dump themselves, Hot Press does not recommend this. It is highly likely that the data contains Trojans that could infect your computer. If you really want to read spoilers then it is best to look at the various Reddit threads that already cover the major details.
Cyber-security experts believe that the hack was carried out by exploiting vulnerabilities within systems like Windows. This is a similar method to the one that allowed the infamous ‘WannaCry’ ransom-ware to infiltrate and encrypt personal data, which effectively shut down many U.K. hospitals and other businesses.
Since these hackers are aware of these exploits and various other methods of infiltrating systems, it seems that they are professional criminal hackers (known as “black hats”). They claim that they have already ransomed 17 other companies and only 3 of them refused to pay.
This puts HBO in a very difficult position. Succumbing to the demands will only finance future illegal activities and reveal that the corporation is vulnerable to blackmail. However, if they do not pay the demands then the potential damage of the leak could be much greater than the amount the hackers are asking for.
Similar hacks have hurt corporations in the past. Earlier this year, Verizon took €296 million off its offer to purchase Yahoo after it was revealed that 32 million Yahoo e-mail accounts were hacked. AT&T is currently in negotiations to purchase HBO’s parent company Time Warner for €72 billion, but this recent news could harm the deal.
The extent of the damage does seem to be less than the catastrophic hack of Sony’s systems back in 2014. Still, this is yet another in a long series of hacks that reveal that, despite their multi-billion dollar budgets, many corporations spend more money on executive bonuses than they do on updating their cyber-security.
This is a very disturbing oversight when we live in an age where hackers are able to influence elections and shut down hospitals. HBO needs something more than some CGI dragons and The Wall for protection.
The industry of professional hacking is only increasing with every successful ransom. Listen closely to the wintry winds from the north and you can hear it: “The nerds are coming”.