Summary A group of hackers involved in a cyber-attack on HBO have reportedly demanded $250,000 as ransom.
(Web Desk) - HBO reportedly has offered $250,000 to the group that hacked its servers under the guise of a “bug bounty”.
According to a screenshot of the conversation released by the attackers, a senior vice president of the company made the offer on July 27, phrasing the payment as a reward for discovering bugs in the HBO server rather than ‘ransom’ that was demanded by a hackers’ group called “Mr. Smith”, the Guardian reported.
In a message leaked by the hackers, the executive says “HBO has been working hard since Sunday evening (July 23) to review all of the material that you have made available to us. We simply have not yet been able to do so”.
The executive continues: “You have the advantage of having surprised us. In the spirit of professional cooperation, we are asking you to extend your deadline for one week. As a show of good faith on our side, we are willing to commit to making a bug bounty payment of $250,000 to you as soon as we can establish the necessary account and acquire bitcoin.”
There is no way to verify the authenticity of the email, but it was shared through the same email address that the attackers had previously used to leak stolen data – the compressed file that included two episodes of the television hit ‘Game of Thrones’, that were leaked prior to the release date along with two unreleased episodes of ‘Ballers’, and ‘Room 104’.
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A screengrab from a leaked Game of Thrones episode.
The hackers who are rumored to be Pakistanis as the file containing the leaked data is available over the internet titled as “Gift From Pakistan”, later released the personal details of some Game of Thrones actors, including email addresses and phone numbers, plus some HBO emails and confidential files, along with a renewed demand for a multimillion dollar ransom, as reported by CNBC.
Bug bounty payments or ethical hacking are common occurrences in cyber security, designed to encourage third-parties to discover and report weaknesses found in security systems so they can be fixed, but it is uncommon for them to be paid following the active exploitation of a bug to steal a large amount of data, and extremely rare for them to be paid to attackers who deliver payment demands in the form of a video of scrolling text set to dramatic music, asking for a payment.
The demand made in the video letter is by the hackers who claim to make $12 million to $15 million per year, and that is why have called it their “six month’s salary”. When a reporter in a media conference tried to talk about the ransom video, HBO declined to comment on it.
