HBO’s Social Media Platforms Breached Temporarily Amidst ‘Game of Thrones’ Episode Leaks

Amidst the drama of ‘Game of Thrones’ episode leaks, HBO has dealt with a series of blows on its digital front. Besides battling blackmail threats from anonymous individuals and hacker groups with unreleased episodes, HBO has faced significant security breaches on its Twitter and Facebook accounts. These recent cyber-attacks highlight the underlying vulnerabilities that even established corporations face, in the era of digital espionage and growing cybercrime.

The cyberattack on HBO’s Twitter and Facebook accounts were attributed to the infamous hacker group, ‘ourMine’. The group left a rather brazen message on HBO’s social media platforms – “Hi, ourMine are here, we are just testing your security, HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security.”

‘ourMine’ holds a notorious reputation in the cybercrime underworld, having successfully infiltrated the Twitter accounts of high-profile companies including Netflix, Sony, and Marvel in the past. They’ve also targeted social media giants directly, hacking into the private Twitter accounts of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, the head of Niantic John Hanke, and Evans Williams, the co-founder and former CEO of Twitter. ‘ourMine’s propensity for such audacious cyber-attacks shows that no site is safe from their prying fingers, an aspect that is disconcerting, to say the least.


Variety reported that in addition to compromising HBO’s account, hackers had their sights on the ‘Game of Thrones’ Twitter account as well. It seems their aim was to gain complete control over these platforms. In response to these security breaches, an HBO spokesman stated that the company managed to delete the hackers’ posts shortly after their appearance. This occurred amidst an unrelated incident where an episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ was unintentionally aired four days ahead of its scheduled release.

While this particular episode was available on HBO Spain’s on-demand services for an hour before the error was rectified, streams of the fantasy drama’s sixth episode were later reported on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Twitch and other services.


The unexpected release of the episode delighted ‘Game of Thrones’ fans. Yet, many were oblivious to the fact that it had been initially leaked by hackers, further highlighting the darker side of digital fan culture today.

Our digital era, albeit filled with innovative opportunities, also opens the door to unanticipated vulnerabilities for companies like HBO. As these incidents unfold, they serve as reminders for all corporations to diligently upgrade and maintain their digital security infrastructures. After all, the digital revolution spares no one from its global reach, including the realms of Westeros.