The Source Of ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 7 Episode 4 Leaks Identified, Internal Inquiry Initiated [No Spoilers]


Game of Thrones Season 7 remained a cause of concern for HBO during the entire week. After facing a cyber attack and losing data to the tunes of 1.5 TB, Episode 4 was leaked online yesterday. A low-quality version of the episode was leaked on Reddit and now available to everyone across the world ahead of its official release on Sunday, August 6. Reportedly, upcoming Episode 4 was one of the high budget episodes.

It was earlier believed that hackers who had stolen data from HBO, which also included some scripts, were responsible for the leak. However, it was revealed that the Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4 leak was from the Indian distribution partner of HBO, Star India. The episode was live on the official website of Star India (now disabled) open to watch and download, as reported by The Verge.

Even before Star India could identify the problem, active netizens had already downloaded the episode and posted it on Reddit. The GoT Episode 4 available online has a water mark on the top-left corner which reads “for internal viewing only” and one on the bottom-right corner that says “Star India.” This confirms that the leak was by someone at Star India.

[Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

A Star India spokesperson told Gadget 360 that it could confirm the compromise of Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4.

“We take this breach very seriously and have immediately initiated forensic investigations at our and the technology partner’s end to determine the cause swiftly. This is a grave issue, and we are taking appropriate legal remedial action,” the spokesperson further added.

HBO has struggled with Game of Thrones leaks during its previous seasons too. Previously, four episodes of Season 4 were leaked online using the advance screeners that were sent to the press. HBO has since ceased sending advance screeners to the press. An HBO subsidiary had also released one episode from Season 6 one day before its official release.

[Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

With the leaks of Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4 coming from its distribution partner, HBO now faces a new problem. Notably, HBO had handed over the Indian distribution to Star India in 2015 because it was unable to manage the distribution in India. The problems for HBO do not end with this incident as its own data was compromised earlier.

It was not yet clear if personal data of HBO employees was accessed or not.

President and CEO of HBO Richard Plepler said in a statement, “At this time, we do not believe that our email system as a whole has been compromised, but the forensic review is ongoing.”

The hacker group has got the scripts of a few episodes of Game of Thrones, Ballers, and Room 104. The hackers have threatened to reveal more information on August 6.

Have you seen the leaked Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4? Let us know your views in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images]

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