Leakers’ ransom video to HBO dismisses FBI ‘shoe makers’ and makes a House of Cards joke
HBO is the latest victim of a security breach that, so far, has resulted in the leak of unreleased episodes of several shows, scripts, internal emails, and personal information for the Game of Thrones cast. Accompanying the hack was a ransom video for HBO executives, which has now surfaced online.
The video, published by Mashable, is a five-minute screed addressed to HBO CEO Richard Plepler. An individual calling themselves “Mr. Smith” explains that they’ve “breached into your huge network,” and claims to have obtained 1.5 terabytes of information after a six-month effort. The video offers HBO three days to pay a ransom, repeatedly described as “XXXX dollars,” in what Mashable assumes is a redaction of an actual amount sent to HBO.
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