Earlier this week, HBO's international streaming services HBO Nordic and HBO España accidentally streamed the sixth episode of Game of Thrones Season 7 on Wednesdays, that is three days ahead of its official release.
To add to HBO's peril, its social media account was hacked for few hours today. HBO's Facebook and Twitter accounts were hacked by OurMine - a group known for hacking high profile social account. They even posted a message that reads, "Hi, OurMine are here, we are just testing your security, HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security - ourmine.org -> Contact." They further added, "let's make #HBOHacked trending!"
It seems like HBO is trying really hard for preventing episodes of the very popular show from getting leaked but all went in vain yesterday. Though the company reacted immediately to prevent it from spreading online, however, as expected, it went viral. Not only this, there was even a Google autocomplete search on board. Footages from the leaked video are already trending on YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, Twitch and other streaming services.
UK's The Independent even carried a recap of the leaked episode. Well, if you are wondering whether it is illegal for a newspaper to carry the synopsis of the leaked episode, remember the episode was aired formally by HBO (though it is accidental). According to the published article on the daily, there are major deaths coming up in the episode. However, the heartbreaking one would be the end of one of the dragons. Dany will watch helplessly as the Night King kills Viserion. What will be more shocking is that the beast will be resurrected as a wight.
An official press statement from the broadcaster clarified that the leak is an internal error and has nothing to do with the recent hack issue. The Indian Express also quoted the statement saying, "learned that the upcoming episode of Game of Thrones was accidentally posted for a brief time on the HBO Nordic and HBO Espana platforms. The error appears to have originated with a third party vendor and the episode was removed as soon as it was recognised."
This is not the first time that a leak happened for season 7. Earlier, hackers leaked the fourth episode of the fantasy series online and also threatened to leak the entire script. With back-to-back hacks, it would be interesting to know whether the next episode (the season's finale)--which is likely to have major twists and turns-- will also be leaked online. While some fans are furious with these slew of leaks and wants HBO to tighten its security issues so that they can watch their favourite series without any worries, others are wishing another leak as their excitement is going through the roof.
