By Tali Arbel & Frank Bajak
NEW YORK (AP) --Hackers continue to pester HBO, but didn't release any material related to the network's hit show "Game of Thrones" in their latest leak.
The hackers, who broke into HBO's computer network and have been doling out stolen information for the past several weeks, released more unaired episodes, including several of the highly anticipated return of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which debuts in October.
The latest dump includes Sunday night's episode of "Insecure," another popular show, and what appear to be episodes of other lower-profile shows, including "Ballers," the unaired shows "Barry" and "The Deuce," a comedy special and other programming.
The network acknowledged the hack in late July, and the thieves have been dribbling out stolen video and documents since then while demanding a multimillion-dollar ransom .
They have leaked "Game of Thrones" scripts, sensitive internal documents like job offer letters and a month's worth of emails from a programming executive. But the intrusion has so far fallen well short of the chaos inflicted on Sony when the studio was hacked in 2014.
Still, the criminals may be holding on to more damaging data — both intellectual property, like unaired programming, and sensitive personal information of HBO employees — that they can use as leverage to try to get money from HBO, said Gartner analyst Avivah Litan.
"It's kind of like kidnap and ransom and torture," she said. "Eventually HBO may have to give in."
In an emailed statement Sunday, HBO said it's "not going to participate" in what it described as attempts to generate attention by dropping "bits and pieces of stolen information." The company added that it was not in communication with the hackers. It has said previously that it doesn't believe its email system as a whole was breached.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More