Electronic Arts Hack: Stolen Data Now Being Leaked, Vice and Motherboard Refuse to Help Extort

Isabella James, Tech Times 16 July 2021, 04:07 am

Electronic Arts' data that have been stolen in June are now being leaked by the hackers.

Electronic Arts (EA) was a victim of a clear ransom attack last month in which important files and data such as the source code for games like "Cyberpunk 2077" have been stolen.

The gaming giant has since refused to pay a ransom for the stolen files, which have now prompted the hackers to begin leaking them on the internet.

Electronic Arts Hack: What Happened

Electronic Arts became a victim of a data breach last month. Aside from the source code for games like "Cyberpunk 2077," other stolen data include internal development tools, the full source code for "FIFA 2021," and software development kits.

The hackers were able to do this by buying stolen website cookies, which they used to infiltrate the Slack channel used by employees of EA. From there, they were able to gain access into the company network by tricking the IT support.

Electronic Arts Hackers Asks Vice, Motherboard to Help Extort

According to Vice and it's tech arm, Motherboard, the EA hackers have said in online posts that they have demanded ransom from the gaming company. EA has refused to pay any ransom for the stolen data.

The Vice report quoted one of the posts by the hackers, which reads "Few week ago we send email for ransome [sic] to EA but we dont get any response so we will posting the src [source]."

EA's refusal to pay ransom has led to hackers leaking some of the data they have stolen. Per the Vice report, the leaked data comes in the form of a compressed cache that is 1.3GB in size. It appears to include "references to internal EA tools and the company's Origin store."

The hackers have threatened that they will continue with the leaks if EA does not pay the ransom. "If they don't contact us or don't pay us, we will keep posting it," the hackers posted.

Vice has also revealed that Motherboard has been asked by the hackers "to directly deliver an extortion message to EA on their behalf." It was declined by Vice and Motherboard.

Electronic Arts Responds to the Hackers

(Photo : Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
UKRAINE - 2021/04/23: In this photo illustration, Electronic Arts (EA) logo of a US video game company is seen on a smartphone and a pc screen.

EA has said in a statement that it is aware of the extortion posts made online by the hackers.

"At this time, we continue to believe that it does not contain data that poses any concern to player privacy, and we have no reason to believe that there is any material risk to our games," the company said as quoted in a report by PC Gamer.

EA also said that it likewise has "no reason to believe" that there is any material risk to any of their games or players. The company added that they are continuing to work with federal law enforcement in an ongoing criminal investigation.

Also Read: Want To Avoid Falling Victim To Ransomware? Update Your Computer

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Written by Isabella James