 "Game of Thrones and HBO Twitter, Facebook accounts hacked; no relation to episodes leaked")
After the leak of episodes by hackers and the accidental airing of a new episode by HBO itself, it seems as though the official Twitter and Facebook accounts of Game of Thrones and the channel have been hacked on Thursday, 17 August 2017. First, a tweet which appeared to be sent by a group called OurMine was sent out at 8:25 am IST. OurMine said that it was merely ’testing security’ and invited HBO to visit their website in order to upgrade it. “Hi, OurَMiَne are here, we are just testing your security ,HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security – ourmine .org -> Contact,” the tweet reads.
Damn. Why is this happening to @HBO?#HBOhacked pic.twitter.com/4plf8wjJoR
— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) August 17, 2017
This was followed by a Facebook post with the same message.
Their Facebook page too.#HBOhack pic.twitter.com/c15sEV2s1S
— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) August 17, 2017
Then, two more tweets were sent out minutes after the first.
And again.#HBOhack #HBOhacked pic.twitter.com/S4BJnBdBBt
— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) August 17, 2017
And again.#HBOhack #HBOhacked pic.twitter.com/lqnEORNcJU
— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) August 17, 2017
Finally, an identical message was tweeted from the official Game of Thrones account.
And again.#HBOhack #HBOhacked pic.twitter.com/SxXjWLkFJk
— Supun Budhajeewa (@budhajeewa) August 17, 2017
The hackers also asked that the hashtag #HBOhacked trend on Twitter, which it did.
These tweets and Facebook posts have now been deleted. The Twitter OurMine is known to hack into the accounts of Netflix and Google in the past, reports Variety. It posts tweets from these famous accounts to advertise its services.“If you go to Ourmine.org, after filling out a Captcha, you see a request to sell security services. Ourmine apparently promises to secure your social media and email for a fee. If you click through from that you get to a ’news’ website called Global Grind,” writes website Empty Light House. It is unlikely that the hacking into these social media accounts is related to the leaking of the episodes, says Variety. People on social media have begun trolling the makers of the show and HBO too, challenging the hackers to release episode seven of the latest season.
When Daenerys's dragons are not enough to protect you from hackers.#HBOHack pic.twitter.com/nc38Bj70kP
— cherl (@cherlninio) August 17, 2017
Arya tells it like it is!#HBOHacked pic.twitter.com/PJfTp6RnqL
— M (@daenerysxjon) August 17, 2017
It seems as though these weren’t the only two accounts to be hacked into. The Twitter account of John Oliver’s show Last Week Tonight was also targeted, and a similar tweet was sent out.
HBO's twitter account(s) just got hacked 😂😂😂😂 #HBOHack pic.twitter.com/Tv2SYHRNeK
— Toby Valora (@sniffytobias) August 17, 2017
In the last week itself, HBO and Game of Thrones have faced much damage, due to the accidental airing of one hour of season 7 episode 4 before its scheduled telecast and the theft of 1.5 terabytes of data from its servers, which includes draft scripts and personal information.
