Security breach: Hackers grab data from EA

According to reports, there was a major hacker attack on the Californian game developer and publisher Electronic Arts (EA). The first data is already for sale on the Internet.

Source code of FIFA on the Internet

Through a security vulnerability at the Californian game developer EA, hackers were able to gain access to their computers and thereby tap a large amount of data. A total of 780 gigabytes of data were probably stolen. Among this data were also source codes. Among other things, the annual soccer game FIFA 21 and the Frostbite engine. The game engine is used by EA for a variety of titles, on the one hand for the development of FIFA and also for other well-known games, such as the Need for Speed series and Battlefield.

Player data not affected

According to Electronic Arts, no sensitive data of gamers has been stolen during the attack of the hackers, at least there are no indications in this direction so far. Thus, the privacy of customers continues to be secured. The perpetrators of the attack should still be caught, of course, and the law enforcement agencies are working on this. The security hole responsible for this has also been found and successfully closed in the meantime.

Data already on the dark web

Unfortunately, the captured data of the hackers have already been offered for sale in shady Internet forums of the Dark Web. In doing so, the hackers claim that with the data it is possible to locate existing security vulnerabilities in all of EA’s services, which can then be exploited. Due to the extensive use of the Frostbite engine, this claim could even be true, so Electronic Arts is on it to develop appropriate security updates for the affected titles.

Not the first attack

The attack on EA is not the first attack on a major game developer in the past. Earlier this year, only the network of the Polish developer studio CD Projekt RED was attacked. The attackers captured confidential business documents, the source codes of Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3. As a result of the attacks, the required patches for Cyberpunk 2077 had been pushed back. It remains to be seen to what extent the attack on Electronic Arts will have further repercussions.