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| Hackers steal data from electronic gaming giant Electronic Arts |
Hackers have hacked gaming giants Electronic Arts and game publishers Battlefield, FIFA and The Sims and stole a large number of game source codes and related internal tools.
Through various posts on secret hacking forums, hackers claim to be able to fully use all of Electronic Arts' services.
In these forum posts, hackers claimed to have received the source code of FIFA 21 and the associated server code.
The hackers also said they received the source code and tools for the Frostbite engine, which supports many Electronic Arts games, including Battlefield.
Other information stolen included proprietary frameworks and software development kits from Electronic Arts, as well as code packages that make game development easier.
Overall, the hackers stated that they had 780 GB of data and announced the sale of this data in several hacker forum posts.
Electronic Arts confirmed that it had suffered a breach of privacy and that the information included by the hacker was the stolen data.
Electronic Arts in Trouble:
An Electronic Arts spokesperson said in a statement: “We are investigating a recent hack of our network in which the source code for a limited number of games and related tools was stolen.
"The player data has not yet been seen. We have no reason to believe that player privacy is being compromised. We have improved things since the incident. We do not anticipate any impact on our games or our business." As an ongoing offender, we work actively with law enforcement agencies and other experts as part of the investigation.
In addition to the forum posts, the hackers also shared a small number of screenshots that claimed to prove they were able to access EA data. But they have not released any internal statements publicly themselves.
Instead, hackers are trying to sell this information at least on the surface. The hackers wrote that they will only consider requests from popular members of the hacking community.
Losing control of the source code can be a problem for Electronic Arts' businesses. In theory, the source code can be copied by other developers or used to create pirates for the game.
Hackers can also examine the source code, identify vulnerabilities to be exploited, and sell the source code online.
The hacking attack coincided with a time when cyber attacks began to gain attention again. Ransomware attacks have targeted major infrastructure companies such as JBS and Colonial Pipeline.