Iranian National Indicted for HBO Hack, Games of Thrones Leak

A 29-year-old Iranian national is behind this summer's HBO hack, which exposed confidential data nearly upcoming episodes of Game of Thrones, according to the FBI.

On Tuesday, United states authorities indicted Behzad Mesri and charged him with wire fraud, computer hacking, aggravated identity theft, and other crimes. Mesri, who once worked for the Iranian military machine, was also placed on the FBI's near wanted list for cybercrimes.

"Although non arrested today, he will forever take to wait over his shoulder until he is fabricated to face justice," acting Manhattan The states Chaser Joon Kim said in a argument.

The HBO hack came to light in July, subsequently a mysterious hacker began posting unaired Idiot box episodes from various HBO series also every bit a script for an upcoming Game of Thrones episode. On Tuesday, the FBI blamed Mesri, who the agency says demanded $vi million in bitcoin from HBO in exchange for the stolen files.

HBO Hack 2

Mesri'south scheme dates back to May, when he began studying how to penetrate HBO's network; he eventually compromised online accounts belonging to several HBO employees and other authorized users, the FBI says. He then stole the visitor's files, including unaired TV episodes of HBO series Ballers, Curb your Enthusiasm, and Room 104, in add-on to financial documents and confidential bandage and crew contact lists.

In tardily July, Mesri sent threatening email messages to HBO executives and employees, demanding they give into his ransom demands. To hogtie payment, Mesri contacted journalists and leaked portions of the stolden data online.

The unsealed indictment doesn't mention how US investigators identified Mesri every bit the mastermind backside the HBO hack, only he resides in Iran, and goes past the hacker name "Skote Vahshat," according to the FBI.

In a taped press conference, Kim declined to comment if Mesri hacked HBO on behalf of the Iranian military. His piece of work there targeted military systems, including nuclear software systems and Israeli infrastructure. At times, Mesri has too been a fellow member of an Iranian hacking grouping called Turk Black Lid Security squad, which has defaced hundreds of websites.

The US could take kept the indictment sealed, but decided Mesri's capture at this betoken is unrealistic, so decided to issue a public message instead, Kim said at Tuesday'southward printing conference.