Hackers just broke into HBO's Twitter accounts amidst weeks of security breaches

What's next??
 By 
Nicole Gallucci
 on 
Hackers just broke into HBO's Twitter accounts amidst weeks of security breaches
Panel for HBO's 'The Deuce' TV show. Credit: Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock

The HBO hackers strike again — this time taking control of the network's official social media accounts.

According to tweets posted on HBO's Twitter, a group identifying themselves as OurMine breached HBO's main account, claiming to be "testing" the security and encouraging the network to reach out for an upgrade.

The tweets were deleted shortly after being posted, and there doesn't seem to have been any severe damage to the company this time around. In a statement a spokesperson from HBO said, "The infringement on our social media accounts was recognized and rectified quickly."

According to The New York Times, Twitter accounts for some of the network's most popular shows like Game of Thrones and Girls were also hacked.

OurMine, the group responsible for the breach, is infamous for targeting social media, and has successfully hacked Twitter accounts of Netflix, the WWE, and Marvel, to name a few.

However, this hack is just one of many security troubles HBO has had to face in recent history. Last month, hackers successfully breached HBO's security to gather 1.5 terabytes of data. Also, the network has endured weeks of leaked television episodes, scripts, and other significant data — the latest including everything from West World Season 2 shooting schedules to 27 separate Game of Thrones Season 7 "shooting [diaries]."

Variety reported that an exec offered a "bounty payment" $250,000 to hackers last month, however the hackers demanded around $6.5 million in Bitcoin from the network.

To make matters worse, just earlier this week on Wednesday, HBO learned that Game of Thrones episode 6, which is due to air this Sunday, had leaked online, and this time that leak appears to be HBO's own fault. (HBO Spain accidentally made the episode available to subscribers for an hour before it was removed.)

While HBO's latest Twitter breach isn't necessarily related to the massive data dumps that have been occurring, the timing certainly isn't great.

Though no financial action appears to have been taken yet to prevent additional leaks, HBO should probably figure out how to get its sh*t together soon.

UPDATE: Aug. 17, 2017, 11:27 a.m. UTC Updated to include statement from HBO.

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.

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