Grand Jury Charges Iranian National In Hack Of Cable Television Network Computer System

The Southern District of New York unsealed a seven-count indictment against Behzad Mesri, an Iranian national and member of an Iranian hacking group. The indictment alleges that Mr. Mesri hacked into HBO's computer systems to steal proprietary data, including unaired episodes of the HBO shows "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Game of Thrones," cast and crew contact lists, company emails, and HBO financial data. Mr. Mesri, who has not been arrested, demanded $6 million worth of bitcoin to keep the data secret. The Southern District charged Mr. Mesri with computer fraud, wire fraud, extortion and identity theft.

The indictment alleges that between May and August of 2017, Mr. Mesri, a "self-professed expert in computer hacking techniques" who has worked for the Iranian military to perform computer attacks of military systems, gained unauthorized access to HBO's network via remote access points that HBO employees used to log into the company's computer system. The