Looks like HBO can’t seem to get a break following a string of hacks, leaks and slip-ups of its content. As the company struggles to stop Game of Thrones leaks and tackle hackers’ ransom threats, another hacker group has broken into the TV company’s Twitter and Facebook accounts.
“Hi, OurMine are here, we are just testing your security, HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security — ourmine.org,” read a message on both social platforms, Variety reported on Thursday.
OurMine has in the past broken into high-profile Twitter accounts including those of Netflix, Sony and Marvel.
It has also hacked into Twitter handles of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
In addition to taking over the main accounts at HBO, the Twitter account for Game of Thrones was also exploited.
“HBO managed to scrub the offending tweets shortly after they were posted,” the report said, adding that a spokesperson declined to comment.
Earlier, an upcoming episode of season seven of the fantasy drama Game of Thrones was accidentally broadcast in Spain, four days before its original scheduled telecast. Footage from the episode was posted on Reddit via YouTube, Instagram and other streaming services, before taken down.
In India, almost 10 days after the unreleased episode four of Gam of Thrones season seven was leaked, Maharashtra Police arrested four people who were involved in the dissemination of the material. The episode, scheduled to be aired for viewing in the US on August 6 and India on August 7, was leaked online from Star India.
In a bid to contain further leaks, HBO reportedly offered to pay $250,000 (Dh918,110) to the hackers who stole nearly 1.5TB data, including scripts of Game of Thrones and other employee information, from the TV network.
