Why is ‘Game of Thrones’ being hacked?

Game of Thrones is certainly one of the most popular, if not the most popular show in the world. It is the show that everyone wants to watch and has been confirmed to be the most pirated TV show ever with some sources claiming it has more pirated views than legitimate.

This week, however, has been a pretty difficult week for the show as a script for the show was disturbed online for all to see and only days after this a copy of this Sunday’s episode “The Spoils of War” was also leaked.

Many of course have taken full advantage of this already and rumours are circulating that more is expected to be released online soon.

But, while this is certainly welcoming news for those who either cannot access HBO or do not want to wait, there has been a niggling question at the back of my mind: Why did the person, or persons, responsible do this?

Did they want money? Did they just want to prove they could do it? What was their motivation for doing this?

So what do we know so far?

The hacker/hackers reached out to the media claiming to have infiltrated and acquired large amounts of data, 1.5 Terabyte in total, from a large company and leaks of this stolen data would soon occur. That company later emerged to be HBO.

Unaired episodes from Room 104 and Ballers were released online along with a Game of Thrones script as well.

HBO has admitted to the hack but has assured that no personal data has been stolen but neither confirmed or denied what had been taken via Game of Thrones.

Threats to release more information online each week every Sunday were made.

Several days after the first incident, the fourth episode of Game of Thrones, “The Spoils of War,” appeared online for all to watch. This leaked episode came several days early from the threatened Sunday timetable. It later emerged that the episode leak was actually not part of the original hack, but was a separate incident involving their distributing partners Star India.

So why is this happening?

Well, this is the thing, we don’t quite know for sure.

The hackers themselves don’t appear to be making any demands despite threatening to release more of the stolen data each week.

Plenty of rumours and speculation on why are going around and the truth may come out at some point in the future but for now, all we can do is guess.

The possibilities

So let’s take a look at the possible reasons for all of this happening.

The most obvious reason is money.Game of Thrones certainly brings in a lot of revenue and a leak like this will certainly put a dent in that revenue. They could, of course, have made a demand from the beginning but HBO is just keeping quiet on the matter which is why we have not heard of anything.

It could be an ego thing. Whoever has done this could just be out to prove that they could do it. Maybe they were paid to do it by a fan of the show who was unable to wait each week for the episodes to air.

They themselves may just be a massive fan who wanted to find out everything they could about Game of Thrones. This doesn’t really add up too much as they stole other episodes from different shows, then again they could be fans of those shows as well.

It’s in protest to the announcement of Confederate, the upcoming HBO drama by Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. This theory has been circulating via social media and it is believed that the hack is a result of the highly controversial drama.

Many believe that it is far too coincidental for the hack to occur shortly after the announcement of Confederate and that it is an effort to bring the show down which is why HBO has not stated anything regarding what the hackers want.

There is also the possibility that none of the above is correct and we will simply never find out why they did what they did. With the revelation that the episode leak not being connected to the original hack, it further shrouds the question of why this has happened?