Game Of Thrones Season 7 Episode 4 Leak WARNING
online streams a ‘security risk'
GAME OF THRONES Season 7 Episode 4 online streams could be a “security risk” to users’ computers, smartphones and networks, HBO has cautioned.
Game Of Thrones has suffered another devastating leak.
The fourth episode of the hugely-popular US fantasy show – which was scheduled to air on HBO on Sunday night – has been widely-shared online.
Season 7 Episode 4, entitled The Spoils Of War, was first published on social news site Reddit via a Google Drive link.
Users report that links to the leaked Game Of Thrones episode are being swiftly taken offline.
However, a slew of popular online streaming websites now carry multiple versions of the leaked episode.
Game Of Thrones Season 7 Episode 4 has also surfaced on torrent repositories, including The Pirate Bay.
Streaming an as-yet unaired episode of Game Of Thrones without permission from the copyright holder is obviously illegal.
However, it could also be dangerous for your computer, smartphone, or other internet-enabled device.
The warning comes courtesy of HBO – the the US television network behind Game Of Thrones – which has purportedly emailed people found to be streaming episodes of the show illegally.
According to a report by piracy-focused blog TorrentFreak, HBO is now tracking the IP address of users who stream Game Of Thrones episodes.
The US network warns users that this can be a “security risk for computers, devices, and networks”
“We have information leading us to believe that the IP address xx.xxx.xxx.xx was used to download or share Game of Thrones without authorisation,” the letter reads.
“HBO owns the copyright or exclusive rights to Game of Thrones, and the unauthorised download or distribution constitutes copyright infringement.
"Downloading unauthorised or unknown content is also a security risk for computers, devices, and networks."
Links to the leaked episode of Game Of Thrones were initially shared on Reddit and other forums
Cybercriminals have previously leveraged the popularity of Game Of Thrones with online pirates to spread malware.
Following the season 6 premiere, ransomware was introduced on The Pirate Bay to coincide with the influx of users looking to download Game Of Thrones episodes.
A fraudulent advertiser on The Pirate Bay used a pop-under advertisement to quietly redirect users and infect them with Cerber ransomware.
Security firm Malwarebytes discovered the threat, which used a victim’s vulnerable browser plugins to silently download a malicious payload to a system.
"Popular torrent site The Pirate Bay was serving ransomware via a malvertising attack this week-end.
"The ad network changes but the modus operandi remains the same," Malwarebytes security researcher Jerome Segura said.
The leaked episode – which is marked For Internal Viewing Only – is being shared across the web
What made this ransomware so dangerous was the fact that users could become infected without even clicking on anything on the website.
The malicious malvertising campaign stealthily identified and attacked vulnerable browsers, targeting all users not running script blockers with the Pirate Bay ads, according to Malwarebytes.
Security Specialist at ESET, Mark James said: "Most users associate being infected by going to a dodgy website and downloading a dodgy file, or browsing a website and choosing to download a file that is bad.
"However, when presented with a scenario that’s capable of infecting them without any visible interaction on their behalf, the end user is often baffled by ‘how it happened’.”
A similar onslaught of malware happened when the first episode of Game Of Thrones season 3 first surfaced on torrent sites.
