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Hackers Spread Malicious Virus Using 'Game of Thrones' Spoilers

© AP Photo / Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBOKit Harington portrays Jon Snow in a scene from the seventh season of HBO's "Game of Thrones."
Kit Harington portrays Jon Snow in a scene from the seventh season of HBO's Game of Thrones. - Sputnik International
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An information security company Proofpoint has discovered a "targeted email campaign" aimed at spreading viruses among gullible users using the popular HBO series “Game of Thrones.”

The hackers used clips of leaked “GoT” episodes enticing users to download files from an attachment sent via email, ostensibly to see the rest of the unreleased episodes.

However, the Microsoft Word files contained malicious code that instantly infected computers.

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The email used the subject line "Wanna see the Game of Thrones in advance?” And according to Proofpoint the infected email message was first discovered on August 10.

The file contained malicious code that installed the Trojan virus "9002." 

On July 31, while fans around the world pined for their weekly fix, it was revealed that hackers stole 1.5 terabytes of data from HBO during a major attack on the network.

The hackers even leaked an unreleased sixth episode online days before its actual premiere.

HBO reportedly offered a $250,000 "bug bounty" reward, as the network called it, according to an email sent by a senior technology executive to the hackers.

The seventh season of Game of Thrones is currently being broadcast globally, one episode per week.

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