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Hacker Guccifer strikes again, nabbing 'Downton Abbey' script

Not only did the hacker get a hold of Julian Fellowes' season 4 finale, he also breached the accounts of Leonardo DiCaprio, Tina Brown, George W. Bush, Robert Redford, and dozens more.

Dara Kerr Former senior reporter
Dara Kerr was a senior reporter for CNET covering the on-demand economy and tech culture. She grew up in Colorado, went to school in New York City and can never remember how to pronounce gif.
Dara Kerr
2 min read
The hacker Guccifer was able to get a copy of the script of Downton Abbey's season 4 finale. Carnival Films

Guccifer does not discriminate. He (or she, or they) has hacked far and wide -- getting into the e-mail accounts of people as diverse as Colin Powell, Leonardo DiCaprio, and journalist Tina Brown. And, a new report from The Smoking Gun shows that the hacker's security breaches have been even more prolific than previously thought.

Dozens of people had their e-mail accounts and Web sites hacked by Guccifer. Not only has he amassed quite a spreadsheet of phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and home addresses, but he's also nabbed documents, personal drawings, and correspondences -- such as doodles by Bill Clinton and Candace Bushnell's new book.

Probably one of the most coveted documents that Guccifer snatched was the script for the finale of "Downton Abbey" season 4. According to The Smoking Gun, the hacker was able to get the script from the show's creator Julian Fellowes' e-mail account. Guccifer downloaded the script six months before the show aired in the UK, but apparently had no intention to publish it.

Guccifer said he was giving this detailed information about his exploits to The Smoking Gun "in case I disappear " because "I don't know what near future hold for me."

Last February, it was revealed that Guccifer accessed private information from the Bush family, including correspondence from both President Bushes. One of the documents leaked in this hack was a modest self-portrait that George W. Bush apparently painted of himself taking a shower.

It's still unclear how Guccifer has been able to hack into all of these accounts. It appears that at least some of the e-mail accounts -- from providers like Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, and Earthlink -- were accessed by his correct guessing of password security questions.

Along with information on Julian Fellowes, Tina Brown, and the Bushes, The Smoking Gun says that Guccifer also accessed the accounts of actors Steve Martin and Robert Redford, three members of the UK's House of Lords, the CEO of MetLife, actresses Mariel Hemingway and Nicole Kidman, ex-US ambassador John Negroponte, and many others.