Millions of Ransom Demanded by Hackers for Stolen HBO Data
The hackers who breached HBO's servers have declined a ransom payment of $250,000 from a top HBO exec, according to an email leaked by hackers to the press. Now, we have learned that HBO has been trying to bargain with the hackers, even offering them a $250,000 "bug bounty" award to give the company more time.
Earlier this week, a video circulating online authored by someone identified only as "Mr. Smith" said the hackers had videos, scripts, personnel files and other from the breach.
The hackers claimed they stole no less than 1.5TB of data after more than six months of probing the security of HBO's internal network and threatened to reveal more content, including more personal data.
HBO, which previously acknowledged the theft of "proprietary information", says it's continuing to investigate and is working with police and cybersecurity experts.
The hackers have already begun to trickle some of the data into public, including unaired episodes of Ballers and Room 104 and a script summary of Game of Thrones. Leakers gonna leak. Just... please no Game of Thrones spoilers before Sunday night? With this new release of data, the hacking group demanded millions of dollars in order for them to stop leaking any more of the company's information.
R. Kelly Criminal Investigation To Be Pursued By Fulton CountyFriday afternoon, however, Howard released a statement that his office is not now investigating R. It is unclear if Chicago police will follow Georgia's lead in launching an investigation as well.
An extension for the deadline of payment of the ransom was also requested by HBO. This was the second data leak from the hackers, but so far, the damage to the network has been limited compared to a similar hack on Sony's network in 2014.
It is unlikely that the hacker obtained of actual Game of Throne episodes.
One document allegedly includes HBO CEO Richard Plepler's contact list, along with a GoT cast list with contact information for actors including Emilia Clarke, Lena Headey, and Peter Dinklage.
In statements to the press, HBO still maintains that "the review to date has not given us a reason to believe that our email system as a whole has been compromised".
Model wanted her wealthy pals to pay ransom to ‘kidnapper’
Model Chloe Ayling’s alleged kidnapper demanded ransom money from three well-heeled Britons who she hoped would prevent her from being hawked online, according to a report.
Italian authorities named the trio Friday as celebrity agent David Read, 50, former Loaded magazine publisher Paul Baxendale-Walker, 53, and banker Rory McCarthy, 57, the Daily Mirror reported.
Ayling told police in Milan that her alleged kidnapper, Lukasz Herba, 30, ordered her to find three people who would be willing to fork over ransom money, the news outlet reported.
They were asked to pay about $65,000 to secure her release.
Read, who runs Neon Management, said he met Ayling during one of her photo shoots.
“Three weeks ago I was contacted by the Met Police who explained an email had been sent from her kidnapper to her model agency, in which I was named as someone who might help,” Read told the Mirror.
“I told the police everything I knew, which was not much. I understood Chloe was still in danger so I kept the meeting with the police secret, as the officers asked me to,” he said. “Next thing I heard about it was news she had been found.”
Ayling told investigators she provided the names of her wealthy contacts to her captors in hopes they’d pony up the cash to prevent her from being peddled on the dark web by the “Black Death” gang.
Herba, who released Ayling at the British consulate in Milan on July 17, has been charged with kidnapping to extort money. He claims he only got involved in the wild plot to raise money for leukemia treatment.
