HBO: Leaked GoT episode come from Star India, HBO’s distributor of content in India

It really happened: An entire episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones season 7 has leaked online before its premiere. Sunday’s episode 4, “The Spoils of War,” has been uploaded online.

And yet, somewhat confusingly, an HBO insider says the leak is not part of the major hack of HBO which first broke Monday morning and contained a script from the same episode.

The episode leaked from Star India, HBO’s distributor of content in India, which receives episodes in advance of air. (There’s apparently a watermark on the video which outs Star India as the source).

So: In a week when HBO has suffered a devasting cyber attack targeting its content … an episode of the company’s most valuable asset, Game of Thrones has apparently leaked from one of its trusted overseas partners.

In theory, Star India could have been separately hacked by the same hacker. But leaks from HBO vendors has happened in the past and HBO believes this is more like those previous situations.