Game of Thrones leak: Why is Game of Thrones being leaked? Who could be behind the leaks?

Season eight of Game of Thrones has suffered many leaks this year with almost every single episode finding its way onto the internet one way or another. Episodes one and two were accidentally dropped hours early by two streaming platforms. However, details from episode four as well as the final two instalments seem to have turned up on social media.

In the case of episodes one and two, which were made available early, these were genuine accidents by DirecTV and Amazon Prime Germany.

A spokesperson for Amazon Prime Germany said at the time: “We regret that for a short time Amazon customers in Germany were able to access episode two of season eight of Game of Thrones.”

They added to BBC News: “This was an error and has been rectified.”

Why is Game of Thrones being leaked?

There is no reason why Game of Thrones is being leaked but episodes one and two were genuine human error.

Subsequent leaks though could be potentially nefarious and targeted breaches.

Details from episode four of Game of Thrones turned up online last week ahead of the episode.

Then, this week the final two episodes have reportedly been leaked online with these purported details circulating on social media.

HAS GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8, EPISODE 5 AND 6 BEEN LEAKED?

HBO has not revealed whether the latest purported leaks are indeed genuine and it’s not clear where the source of the breach has come from.

Express.co.uk has contacted HBO and Sky Atlantic about whether or not the leaks are authentic.

Speaking about the motivations for purposely leaking information or hacking a show like Game of Thrones, Ramsés Gallego of IT governance and security organisation ISACA, said: “There’s always a motive.”

With Game of Thrones, he put it down to the popularity and visibility of the series that made it such an enticing target for hackers.

A TIMELINE OF GAME OF THRONES LEAKS

“So if I’m a hacker, I’m going for the big fish and if I succeed I get the prize. If I don’t succeed, no one will know,” he said.

Gallego’s thoughts were shared by Birmingham City University cybersecurity lecturer Dr Vitor Jesus, who said the motive for leaking something would primarily be monetary but also prestige.

“We usually say in cybersecurity, if there was no incentive nobody would be doing it. What happens with cybersecurity, there are different kinds of incentives,” he said.

“There are monetary to start with but there’s also the political considerations – North Korea or Russia – but there’s also just for the sake of it.

“I could always see someone trying to get some valuable information and sell it to news websites or something like that, easily. There’s good money for that.

“But I also see someone just taking it as a challenge and just releasing it for the fame and honour of it really.”

He said that unless there was political motivation behind a hack, most people didn’t get caught out or face punishments.

Nevertheless, he said most hackers were “careless” and could get caught in a “matter of days”.

Saying this, Iranian Behzad Mesri was charged by the US of hacking into HBO and leaking Game of Thrones scripts in 2017.

He was accused of wire fraud, extortion, computer fraud and identity theft.

Mesri’s whereabouts are unknown and he is on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Game of Thrones season 8 airs on HBO in the US on Sundays 9pm ET and on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV in the UK on Mondays at 2am & 9pm BST

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source: express.co.uk