Fans of Breaking Bad can now catch a glimpse of the first episode headed for Netflix as it leaked owing to the streaming service's security technology for its Ultra HD content being hacked.
The 4K variant of the pilot episode for Breaking Bad surfaced online on Thursday, August 27, thanks to pirates finding a way to bypass the protection system. While Netflix has made 4K content available for some time now, hackers were unable to pilfer the content - until now.
Publication TorrentFreak divulged that the 4K version of Breaking Bad's first episode was doing the rounds on private torrent websites.
"Pirates have found a way to circumvent the 4K copy protection on Netflix, resulting in the first ultra high-definition leak. A copy of the first episode of Breaking Bad worth nearly 18 gigabytes is currently being traded on various torrent sites and more leaks are expected to appear in the future," notes the publication.
The torrent weighs 17.73GB has an alleged video resolution of 2160p. The bit rate is believed to be 41.3Mbps, which basically means that unless users have a fabulous Internet connection, the episode will not run seamlessly on your PC.
The site also posted a screenshot which shows that shows the file being listed on a popular torrent site and had 15 people sharing the same.
With the season one episode for the popular Sony Pictures Television-produced series leaking online, it appears that pirates have finally managed to crack the code for the High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) system that was supposedly unbreakable. It is owing to this fact that pirated 4K content from Netflix was not found online.
The Ultra HD deployed by Netflix uses the HDCP standard, which basically encrypts data between a TV and a device via an HDMI link. This standard deters pirates from copying video content either via HDMI or any other connection.
It was in 2014 that Netflix added 62 episodes of the critically lauded drama which stars Bryan Cranston - a chemistry teacher who has become a meth dealer.
For users to gain access to Netflix's Ultra HD content one is required to sign-up for the service's family plane. This plan costs $11.99 each month and enables one to stream four programs simultaneously. The other 4K titles available are limited and include The Blacklist and House of Cards, as well as the movies Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters 2 and Smurfs 2.
Netflix is reportedly investigating the leak.
