HBO is trying to get $250,000 in bitcoin to pay hackers who stole GoT scripts

[anon4250158]

Even if episodes are leaked, people are still paying for HBO's premium service, and will continue to do so because there is no guarantee that future episodes will also be leaked.  And this is irrelevant to people who illegally download episodes anyway, so I doubt it will really affect HBO.  They should patch the security issue and not pay the hackers. 

It's upsetting to me also that bitcoin is once again in the news being associated with criminal activity.  Of course, it's not like fiat currencies are never used for crime, but bitcoin has had one major criminal news story after another for years and people seem to associate it with underground illegal activity.

[TrumpD]

The scripts must be very valuable then, it is a kings ransom. I hope they don't pay it, what is the worst that can happen, it maybe possible that HBO isn't saying everything and there is sensitive data among the loot.

[wuvdoll]

Even if episodes are leaked, people are still paying for HBO's premium service, and will continue to do so because there is no guarantee that future episodes will also be leaked.  And this is irrelevant to people who illegally download episodes anyway, so I doubt it will really affect HBO.  They should patch the security issue and not pay the hackers. 

It's upsetting to me also that bitcoin is once again in the news being associated with criminal activity.  Of course, it's not like fiat currencies are never used for crime, but bitcoin has had one major criminal news story after another for years and people seem to associate it with underground illegal activity.

There is no doubt if HBO will not fill Hackers mouth with a handsome amount of money, they will soon release other episodes also. You see, they don't play around waste their time. HBO has once ignored their threat before but what happened, new episodes were leaked on internet. Got has bring a million dollars loss if you really look deep into the matter. However, I think they won’t release further episodes if the conditions are met.

[The_Dark_Knight]

The hacker finally creates the latest trend on how to get bitcoin, but that is not a way to emulate. I am afraid, if later they start hacking wallet. Is not that scary?

It is scary, but taking into account the amount of money they are asking then unless you have that m amount of bitcoin you have nothing to worry as long as you are a small fish no one is going to target you directly, you just need to worry about viruses and stuff like that.

[Filmmmakerr]

Lmao. Thats crazy, theres gonna be so many more of these ransom hackers looking for bitcoins. I think its a good way to spike the price up 

[The_Dark_Knight]

Lmao. Thats crazy, theres gonna be so many more of these ransom hackers looking for bitcoins. I think its a good way to spike the price up 

It is obvious that attacks like these are not going to stop, especially if they get paid, why would they stop? However I disagree with your notion that this can make the price to spike up, all of these hacks and different viruses are bad news for bitcoin since people will keep on thinking that bitcoin is a currency for criminals.

[eternalgloom]

Lmao. Thats crazy, theres gonna be so many more of these ransom hackers looking for bitcoins. I think its a good way to spike the price up  

The reputation of Bitcoin is much more important than the price getting a little bit higher, if any higher at all, because of people buying Bitcoin due to hackers or ransomware.
I don't even think those amounts have any real influence on the price. We're talking about a couple of 1000 BTC bought because of ransomware, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

People also seem to be paying less and less, here are 3 addresses of some fairly popular ransomware virusses:

https://blockchain.info/address/12t9YDPgwueZ9NyMgw519p7AA8isjr6SMw  -- Around 18 BTC
https://blockchain.info/address/13AM4VW2dhxYgXeQepoHkHSQuy6NgaEb94 -- 20 BTC
https://blockchain.info/address/115p7UMMngoj1pMvkpHijcRdfJNXj6LrLn  -- 14.5 BTC

Source: https://qz.com/982993/watch-as-these-bitcoin-wallets-receive-ransomware-payments-from-the-ongoing-cyberattack/

[joseafonso123az]

This is what makes people against bitcoin. HBO could say that they would pay a bounty to the ones who stole the scripts without saying bitcoins. Big guys also think that bitcoin is the best currency for the illegal market, and with this the trend will continue. And if it continues like this, people with bitcoin will all be called as doing illegal activities, because it is not so easy to give proof of funds in bitcoin. This a something that every bitcoin user, developer have to think and provide a way to stop these illegal activities.

[The_Dark_Knight]

Lmao. Thats crazy, theres gonna be so many more of these ransom hackers looking for bitcoins. I think its a good way to spike the price up  

The reputation of Bitcoin is much more important than the price getting a little bit higher, if any higher at all, because of people buying Bitcoin due to hackers or ransomware.
I don't even think those amounts have any real influence on the price. We're talking about a couple of 1000 BTC bought because of ransomware, which is nothing in the grand scheme of things.

People also seem to be paying less and less, here are 3 addresses of some fairly popular ransomware virusses:

https://blockchain.info/address/12t9YDPgwueZ9NyMgw519p7AA8isjr6SMw  -- Around 18 BTC
https://blockchain.info/address/13AM4VW2dhxYgXeQepoHkHSQuy6NgaEb94 -- 20 BTC
https://blockchain.info/address/115p7UMMngoj1pMvkpHijcRdfJNXj6LrLn  -- 14.5 BTC

Source: https://qz.com/982993/watch-as-these-bitcoin-wallets-receive-ransomware-payments-from-the-ongoing-cyberattack/

I suppose people are doing what they should have done from the beginning, to backup their information, that way if you get a virus at most you lose a month of information, but if you do not make backups you could lose the information of year or even decades.

[llhibionada]

GOT earned alot of fans already and not just fans, die hard fans, i believe they won't lose anything from just mere scripts spreading. You can clearly see from season 6 ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(season_6) compare to season7 ratings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(season_7) that they increase 3million views that being said shows that people dig it whatsoever reasons they see.

[The_Dark_Knight]

This is what makes people against bitcoin. HBO could say that they would pay a bounty to the ones who stole the scripts without saying bitcoins. Big guys also think that bitcoin is the best currency for the illegal market, and with this the trend will continue. And if it continues like this, people with bitcoin will all be called as doing illegal activities, because it is not so easy to give proof of funds in bitcoin. This a something that every bitcoin user, developer have to think and provide a way to stop these illegal activities.

You are right, but at the same time we cannot expect the media to play it fair, bitcoin is not giving them a cent unlike banks an politicians so they are going to make it look as if bitcoin is bad even if we know that is not the case, that is something we will have to deal with and overcome it.