An Iranian have been charged with the hacking of HBO cable TV network, stealing several episodes and plots summaries of unaired programs such as Game Of Thrones, Ballers etc and then dumped over 1.5TB of data online and then further threatening to release more data if his $6 million ransom wasn't met.
The accused, Behzad Mesri is charged with computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft. According to an indictment filed by US attorneys, Mesri is said to have worked for the Iran military on their attack military systems, nuclear softwares and Iran infrastructure. The indictment describes Mesri as a "self-professed expert" in hacking.
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Mesri is said to have broken into HBO's network between May and August and stole several unreleased episodes of Game Of Thrones, Ballers, The Deuce, Curb Your Enthusiasm and scripts and plot summaries for GOT.
According to the indictment, he got access credentials that HBO's employees uses to access the network. The Iranian demanded about $6 million in ransom so as not to release any of the stolen data. However, things began to get bad for HBO when the hacker began dumping unreleased TV episodes, dumping about 1.5 TB of files and exposing stars contact address.
Mesri is also alleged to have aided an Iranian hacking group called Turk Black Security Team deface hundreds of websites across the world.