FBI Releases Photo of 'Behzad Masri, Iranian Hacker' of HBO Network

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a photo of Behzad Masri, an Iranian national, on Tuesday, November 21, who is accused of hacking into the computers of the HBO television network and stealing unreleased episodes of the series 'Game of Thrones.' According to the Associated Press, U.S. prosecutors say that Behzad Masri intended to extort six million dollars from HBO by hacking into their computers and stealing unreleased episodes of 'Game of Thrones.' John Kim, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, stated in a press conference that Behzad Masri is currently in Iran. He emphasized that although the U.S. judicial system cannot arrest Masri at this time, he will face the consequences of his actions. The acting U.S. Attorney added that he will always have the fear of being arrested and extradited to the U.S. as soon as he leaves Iran. The Associated Press reports that the indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan against this Iranian citizen states that he hacked into HBO's computers in New York. U.S. judicial officials have said that Behzad Masri threatened HBO that if they did not pay six million dollars in Bitcoin, he would release the hacked content online. HBO also stated in a statement that they are cooperating with law enforcement officials regarding this matter. The day before, the Washington Post published a report indicating that HBO's computers were hacked in the spring of this year, and the network's director had informed employees in a letter in August that assessments regarding a large-scale cyberattack on the channel were underway. The report added that at that time, estimates indicated that the scale of the attack on HBO was significantly larger than the attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. According to this report, the cyberattack on HBO resulted in the theft of unreleased episodes of popular series such as 'Game of Thrones' and dozens of other films and series. It was reported that among the stolen information and data were behind-the-scenes issues regarding professional competition contracts, emails of executive officials, and the password of HBO's legal vice president. At that time, it was reported that HBO had requested assistance from the FBI.