Hackers have hit HBO, allegedly leaking the script for the fourth episode of this season’s Game of Thrones and claiming to publish upcoming episodes of Ballers and Room 104.
The thieves, who also claim to have made off with 1.5 terabytes of content in all from the premium cable network, also promised that more leaks are “coming soon.”
“HBO recently experienced a cyber-incident, which resulted in the compromise of proprietary information,” the network said in a press statement. “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.”
This morning, HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler sent an email to employees, obtained by Entertainment Weekly, with a bit of a pep talk:
“As most of you have probably heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming,” he wrote. “Any intrusion of this nature is obviously disruptive, unsettling and disturbing for all of us. I can assure you that senior leadership and our extraordinary technology team, along with outside experts, are working round the clock to protect our collective interests. The efforts across multiple departments have been nothing short of herculean. It is a textbook example of quintessential HBO teamwork. The problem before us is unfortunately all too familiar in the world we now find ourselves a part of. As has been the case with any challenge we have ever faced, I have absolutely no doubt that we will navigate our way through this successfully.”
This is the latest in a string of hacks on entertainment companies that stretch back to 2014’s massive Sony Pictures Entertainment compromise—the biggest breach of that year. More recently, episodes of Orange Is the New Black were leaked online in April ahead of the summer debut of Season 5; and in 2015, the first four episodes of Game of Thrones were released online before the season premiere—an incident that was traced to the review copies that were sent to reviewers.
However, details in this case to what exactly was compromised and whether the alleged Game of Thrones script is the real deal were not forthcoming. These claims are not always legitimate, as demonstrated by the hoax against Disney in May, when a hacker falsely claimed to have stolen Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.