The first episode of the new drama series CSI: Cyber has leaked online. The show, which documents the hunt for cyber-criminals, has apparently fallen victim to its main subject. Is CBS being put in its place by 'hackers' or could the leak be some kind of promotional stunt?

CSI: Cyber is the fourth series in the popular CSI franchise.

The police drama, starring Emmy Award winner Patricia Arquette, revolves around the FBI’s Cyber Crime Division which investigates illegal activities on the Internet, including piracy.

The new show is set to premiere tomorrow night but cyber criminals have spoiled the exclusive for CBS.

Ironically, or perhaps fittingly, leaked copies of the first episode surfaced on various pirate sites during the past day. The leaked footage comes from a high quality copy and doesn’t have any visible watermarks.

The leak appears to come from the P2P group “PMP” and is titled “CSI-Cyber-S01E01-HDTV-x264-PMP.”

Leaked CSI Cyber Episode 1



Interestingly, however, the episode isn’t spreading through the usual torrent sites. Instead, it appeared on various streaming services and cyberlockers first, which is quite unusual.

There are no traces to the video source. It may have come from a promotional screener, or perhaps the leak itself is a promotion? If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that a TV-series has been intentionally leaked to gain traction.

From reading the comments of early viewers the pilot is getting mixed reviews. Some love the concept of a cyber CSI, but others are more critical of the various technicalities.

“Wow. Not a good first effort at all. Did they hire any real hackers or anyone with any real working knowledge of hacking,” one cyber ‘criminal’ commented.

Whether CBS plans to alert the FBI’s real “CSI:Cyber” to hunt down the leakers is unknown, but for now they remain on the loose.