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Iranian charged with Game of Thrones hack Iranian charged with Game of Thrones hack
(about 5 hours later)
The US Department of Justice is to charge an Iranian man with hacking into HBO, leaking Game of Thrones scripts and demanding a $6m (£4.5m) ransom. US prosecutors have charged an Iranian man with hacking into HBO, leaking Game of Thrones scripts and demanding a $6m (£4.5m) ransom.
Behzad Mesri is accused of accessing a computer without authorisation for the purposes of commercial advantage. Behzad Mesri is accused of computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft.
Court documents allege he had worked for Iran's military and been involved in a campaign to deface US websites Acting US attorney Joon Kim told a news conference in New York that Mr Mesri was in Iran.
They allege he began conducting online reconnaissance of HBO's computer networks and employees in May 2017. He said that even though US authorities could not arrest him immediately, Mr Mesri would face consequences.
"Over the next couple of months, he successfully compromised multiple user accounts in order to obtain access to the media giant's servers," the documents say. "He will never be able to travel outside of Iran without fear of being arrested and brought here," Mr Kim said.
"Through the course of the intrusions into HBO's systems, Mesri was responsible for stealing confidential and proprietary data including... scripts and plot summaries for unaired programming, including but not limited to episodes of Game of Thrones." Prosecutors allege Mr Mesri, who has been added to the FBI's most wanted list, had worked for Iran's military and been involved in a campaign to deface US websites.
Mr Kim said he was an "experienced and sophisticated hacker who has been wreaking havoc on computer systems around the world for some time".
Prosecutors say Mr Mesri began conducting online reconnaissance of HBO's computer networks and employees in May 2017.
"Over the next couple of months, he successfully compromised multiple user accounts in order to obtain access to the media giant's servers," court documents say.
"Through the course of the intrusions into HBO's systems, Mr Mesri was responsible for stealing confidential and proprietary data including... scripts and plot summaries for unaired programming, including but not limited to episodes of Game of Thrones."
A few weeks later, the documents allege, Mr Mesri claimed to have stolen about 1.5TB of data and began an extortion campaign that included an email to HBO employees that read: "Hi to All losers" Yes it's true! HBO is hacked!"A few weeks later, the documents allege, Mr Mesri claimed to have stolen about 1.5TB of data and began an extortion campaign that included an email to HBO employees that read: "Hi to All losers" Yes it's true! HBO is hacked!"
It is unclear whether any ransom money, demanded in Bitcoin according to the court documents, was ever paid.It is unclear whether any ransom money, demanded in Bitcoin according to the court documents, was ever paid.
A Department of Justice press conference is due to be held at 17:30 GMT. Mr Mesri has not yet commented on the charges.
It is not known how the accused will plead.