HBO offered to give hackers a $250,000 “bounty payment”

There’s been another development in the ridiculous story of the hackers who stole data from HBO. If you’re just joining us, here’s a recap:

• Last week, a hacker or hackers going by the moniker little.finger66 hacked into HBO and stole what they claimed was 1.5 terabytes of information, which is a whole lot.
• The hackers released episodes of certain shows online, including Ballers and Barry, a new comedy not due to air until 2018. They also released early scripts for yet-to-be-released episodes of Game of Thrones season 7, although no episodes have surfaced as yet. It’s also possible they have voluminous internal documents and emails.
• The hackers sent a video message to HBO CEO Richard Plepner demanding that the network pay them their “six-month salary in bitcoin.” They also said that they earn between $12 to $15 million per year from blackmail, so they want millions of dollars in exchange for not leaking further information.

And now, the new ridiculous development.

Variety has published a new message it received from the hackers. Apparently, an executive at HBO — Variety will not say who — responded to the hackers’ ransom demand by offering a $250,000 “bounty payment” made pursuant to a program in which “white hat IT professionals” are rewarded for “bringing these types of things to our attention.” The HBO executive also asked the hackers to move back their deadline for payment while HBO gathers the $250,000 in bitcoin. “You have the advantage of having surprised us,” the message read. “In the spirit of professional cooperation, we are asking you to extend your deadline for one week.”

Okay, so, that’s an odd message. For one, $250,000 — while a lot of money — is way below what the hackers demanded. Perhaps that’s why they released the message to journalists? Perhaps HBO offended them with such a lowball offer?

Also, offering to pay the hackers as thanks for “bringing these types of things to our attention” is a weird way to speak to someone committing the digital equivalent of holding you up at gunpoint. However, Variety’s reports that “a source close to the investigation” says the message is worded the way it is to stall for time while HBO further assesses the situation. The FBI is involved in the investigation, so maybe this is standard procedure?

Another reason the message is odd is because this whole damn story is odd as hell. Need I repeat the nutso message the hacker(s) sent to journalists when this whole thing started?

"Hi to all mankind. The greatest leak of cyber space era is happening. What’s its name? Oh I forget to tell. Its HBO and Game of Thrones……!!!!!! You are lucky to be the first pioneers to witness and download the leak. Enjoy it & spread the words. Whoever spreads well, we will have an interview with him. HBO is falling."

Ugh, so weird.

Anyway, the biggest prize the hackers could have is unreleased episodes of Game of Thrones — we’re still not sure if they have any. Funnily enough, the most recent episode of the show — “The Spoils of War” — DID leak before the air date, but it had nothing whatsoever to do with the hack. And even more funnily enough, the ratings were through the roof anyway. So even if the hackers did leak advance episodes of Thrones, it probably wouldn’t hurt HBO’s bottom line, in which case I don’t know what bargaining power they really have here.

More on this insane story as it drudges on.

Next: HBO releases official photos from “Eastwatch”

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