Hackers briefly take over Game of Thrones Twitter account

Several of HBO’s Twitter accounts were hacked late on Wednesday, further raising security concerns at a moment when the US premium cable channel has been dealing with the sustained leaking of proprietary information.

On Wednesday, a group that identified itself as OurMine infiltrated HBO’s main Twitter account and the accounts for TV shows including Game of Thrones and Girls.

In two tweets posted to several of HBO's accounts, the hackers wrote "we are just testing your security" and "let's make #HBOHacked trending!" It did not last long. HBO appeared to have reclaimed control of the accounts and had deleted the hacker's tweets within an hour of the breach.

There is nothing unique about the hacking of corporate social media accounts, but the incident on Wednesday comes as HBO continues to deal with leaks by a single hacker who has tormented the network since the beginning of the month. In emails to the the media in recent weeks, the hacker, who identifies himself as “Mr Smith,” has released proprietary information, including emails of one HBO executive and unaired episodes of shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Ballers and Insecure. It is unclear how widely those episodes have circulated online.

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Unaired episodes

Two unaired episodes of Game of Thrones were also leaked this month, including one set to be broadcast on Sunday, although neither leak was related to the wider breach. It did not appear that Wednesday’s Twitter hacking was related to the Mr Smith attack.

OurMine has been responsible for hacking several major companies, including YouTube, Marvel and Netflix.

“We are investigating,” a network spokesman said. In addition to the hacking, HBO has also recently dealt with a prolonged social media backlash for Confederate, an alternate history drama about slavery from the creators of Game of Thrones that is in development.

New York Times Service