A suspect has been arrested for leaking the ‘Home of the Dragon’ finale episode — and the alleged hacker made a rookie mistake

• Two days earlier than the “Home of the Dragon” finale aired final fall, the episode was leaked on-line.
• An Israeli was arrested within the case, and the alleged hacker’s cat helped tip off police, per The Jerusalem Publish.

The mysterious case of the leaked “Home of the Dragon” finale is one step nearer to being solved — and the alleged hacker’s cat helped tipped off authorities.

Final October, two days earlier than the “Recreation of Thrones” spin-off’s collection finale was set to air, the episode was leaked to pirating websites.

An Israeli resident residing in Givatayim, a metropolis east of Tel Aviv, was arrested on Monday, after being suspected of hacking into HBO’s satellite tv for pc servers with the intention to get hold of the episode earlier than distributing the fabric on-line, The Jerusalem Publish reported.

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Across the time of the leak, HBO issued a press release saying that the community was conscious of the episode being “posted on unlawful torrent websites” and that the leak stemmed “from one of many firm’s personal distribution companions in Europe, the Center East, or Africa.”

Detectives from Israel’s Cyber Unit of the Central District of Police have been capable of finding the id of the hacker by analyzing social media and the leaked file, The Jerusalem Publish reported. The account was linked to the phrase “fowl,” which is the identify of the alleged hacker’s cat, per the Publish.

Israel’s Cyber Unit and HBO didn’t instantly reply to Insider’s requests for remark.

Leaks are nothing new for HBO. The primary 4 episodes of the ultimate season of “Recreation of Thrones” have been all leaked in some type or one other previous to airing, and season seven handled related points.

Regardless of the leak, “Home of the Dragon” was fairly succesfull with 9.3 million viewers tuning into the collection finale legally. That made it HBO’s most-watched finale because the “Recreation of Thrones” finale in 2019, per Selection. The present’s first episode in August 2022 netted 10 million viewers, making it the community’s greatest premiere ever.

The “Recreation of Thrones” universe is simply getting began, with one other prequel collection, “Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” greenlit in April. If that knight is powerful sufficient to fend of leaks continues to be to be decided.