HBO reportedly offered to pay $250,000 (roughly Rs 1.6 crores) to those who have hacked 1.5TB data, which includes five episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’ (GoT) and other important employee information.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the hackers have shared a screenshot of an email that was sent by a senior HBO Executive to them offering $250,000 as a "bug bounty payment."
The email dated July 27, containing the ‘bug bounty’ offer, this indicates that a negotiation is going on between the network and the hackers.
However, the HBO executive has framed the email as an offer for a reward for discovering vulnerabilities in HBO's system instead of ransom.
The executive says that the network has "been working hard since [July 23] to review all of the material that you have made available to us. ... In the spirit of professional cooperation, we are asking you to extend your deadline for one week." The email continues, "As a show of good faith on our side, we are willing to commit to making a bug bounty payment of $250,000 to you as soon as we can establish the necessary account and acquire Bitcoin."
"We also have not been able to put into place the necessary infrastructure to be able to make a large payment in bitcoin, although we are taking steps to do so as you suggested," the HBO exec says in the email.
It is unclear whether the email is authentic or it has been doctored in any way. While HBO has declined to issue any kind of comment.
Earlier this week, hackers had released phone numbers and email addresses of Game of Thrones cast members, as part of a 3.4GB data dump.