Investigators from the cybercrime were acting on a complaint from the media giant
The Central District Police’s online crime unit arrested a central Israel resident on Tuesday. The suspect allegedly broke into HBO’s servers and leaked the last episode of “House of the Dragon” before the scheduled world premiere.
Investigators from the cybercrime unit conducted the investigation over the past few months, using advanced technological assets, after a complaint was received from HBO about a suspected hacking of the company’s servers. The media giant alleged that the season finale of their latest flagship series “House of the Dragons” – a spin-off of “Game of Thrones” by George R. R. Martin – was stolen and leaked online.
The arrested suspect is a resident of Givatayim in his 30s. He was transferred to the offices of the cybercrime unit for investigation, after his home was searched and digital storage devices and computers were seized.
Israeli hackers were recently in the news for an alleged “appointment trafficking market.” According to the report, most slots for months or and even years at the local government branches were scalped by bots, in order to be resold at exorbitant prices on Telegram.
On a much larger scale, a “Pegasus” program by the Israeli firm NSO Group was developed to access a phone’s messages and emails, look through photos, eavesdrop on calls, track the owner’s location, and even film them with the camera. In 2020, it was brought to light the extent of its use by governments around the world.