Pirates release unseen Game of Thrones episiodes

Already one of the most pirated shows on television, hackers have broken into HBO’s data systems and obtained episodes and scripts from Game of Thrones.

EW reports forthcoming episodes of the popular fantasy series have also been released by the hackers, who have already put episodes of Ballers and Room 104 online.

“HBO recently experienced a cyber incident, which resulted in the compromise of proprietary information,” said HBO in a prepared statement. “We immediately began investigating the incident and are working with law enforcement and outside cybersecurity firms. Data protection is a top priority at HBO, and we take seriously our responsibility to protect the data we hold.”

HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler has emailed staff confirming the breach: “As most of you have probably heard by now, there has been a cyber incident directed at the company which has resulted in some stolen proprietary information, including some of our programming.

“Any intrusion of this nature is obviously disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing for all of us. I can assure you that senior leadership and our extraordinary technology team, along with outside experts, are working round the clock to protect our collective interests. The efforts across multiple departments have been nothing short of herculean. It is a textbook example of quintessential HBO teamwork. The problem before us is unfortunately all too familiar in the world we now find ourselves a part of. As has been the case with any challenge we have ever faced, I have absolutely no doubt that we will navigate our way through this successfully.”

Last month piracy analysis company MUSO estimated the first episode of season 7 of Game of Thrones has been illegally viewed over 90 million times across the globe.

That beats legal viewing by six times – official figures say 16.1 million people in the US and 2.83 million people in the UK watched the episode, either on TV or by streaming it on NowTV or Sky Go.