Leaked Email Shows HBO Negotiating With Hackers

BOSTON (AP) — Hackers this week released an email from HBO in which the company expressed willingness to pay them $250,000 as part of a negotiation over data swiped from HBO’s servers.

The July 27 email was sent by John Beyler, an HBO executive who thanked the hackers for “making us aware” of previously unknown security vulnerabilities. The executive asked for a 1-week delay and said HBO was willing to make a “good faith” payment of $250,000, calling it a “bug bounty” reward for IT professionals rather than a ransom.

HBO declined to comment. A person close to the investigation confirmed the authenticity of the email, but said it was an attempt to buy time and assess the situation. The same hackers have subsequently released two dumps of HBO material and demanded a multi-million dollar ransom.