Hackers have been going whole hog on HBO, leaking episodes of Ballers and threatening the network with plenty of chaos. Though they apparently weren't responsible for last week's Game of Thrones leak (which was apparently the result of the network's own negligence), they've now targeted the stars of the wildly successful fantasy show.
According to the Guardian, a hacker or hacker group calling itself "Mr. Smith" has leaked personal phone numbers and email addresses for the stars of the show, along with scripts for future episodes. The Verge additionally reports that home addresses were included in the data dump.
In a five-minute video sent to HBO executive Richard Plepler, Mr. Smith demanded a bitcoin payment in the next three days. Otherwise, they're threatening to leak even more information. They claim to have stolen over 1.5 terabytes of data from the network.
The hackers claim to make between $12 million and $15 million USD a year through their online exploits. They demanded that the network pay "our six-month salary in bitcoin," adding that they will only deal with Plepler directly.
According to the Guardian, a hacker or hacker group calling itself "Mr. Smith" has leaked personal phone numbers and email addresses for the stars of the show, along with scripts for future episodes. The Verge additionally reports that home addresses were included in the data dump.
In a five-minute video sent to HBO executive Richard Plepler, Mr. Smith demanded a bitcoin payment in the next three days. Otherwise, they're threatening to leak even more information. They claim to have stolen over 1.5 terabytes of data from the network.
The hackers claim to make between $12 million and $15 million USD a year through their online exploits. They demanded that the network pay "our six-month salary in bitcoin," adding that they will only deal with Plepler directly.