‘Electronic Arts’ Hit by Massive Data Breach Involving User Records and Source Code

• Hackers breached Electronic Arts and stole 780 GB of data, including user records and source code.
• The pack is already offered for sale on various markets and hacker forums, and for now, only screenshots have been shared.
• EA has confirmed the incident but denies the possibility of user data having been accessed or exfiltrated.

‘Electronic Arts,’ the California-based video game company with an annual revenue of $5.5 billion, has suffered a massive data breach incident that has compromised user records as well as game source code. The company has confirmed the unfortunate incident but stated that no player data was accessed and that there’s no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy. However, from what samples have appeared on hacker forums, this may not be accurate.

Overall, the hackers stole roughly 780 GB of data which they advertise for sale on several forums and marketplaces by now, and the list includes the following:

• Debug tools, SDKs, and API keys
• FIFA 21 matchmaking server
• FIFA 22 API keys, as well as SDK and debugging tools
• Frostbite engine source code and debugging tools
• Multiple proprietary EA games frameworks and SDKs
• Xbox and Sony private SDK and API key
• Xbox, PlayStation, and EA PFX files and keys to SSL certificates
• User records of 8,938,550 FIFA players

We don’t know what these records contain exactly, but we would guess that social engineering, phishing, scamming actors would make good use of these details. Still, EA doesn’t accept that any player data has been compromised, so we’re reproducing that part with caution. EA is still investigating the intrusion, so we may have an update on the matter soon.

Prakash Bell, Head of Customer Success, at Check Point Software Technologies has shared the following comment with TechNadu on the incident:

In the meantime, if you are playing an EA game and you have an online account for it, you should reset your password as soon as possible and also enable 2FA on your account. If you receive any suspicious unsolicited emails, do not jump to action - but instead take a good look at the sender’s address and the content first. It is likely that scammers will try to trick you into giving away your account credentials by using this security incident as bait.

At the same time, CD Projekt, the publisher of ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ who has suffered a data-stealing ransomware incident in February 2021, has just announced that the stolen data is now circulating the internet. They cannot confirm the validity or authenticity of the data yet, but they have valid reasons to believe it is the result of that particular security incident. The firm’s IT systems have been adequately strengthened by now, so players, employees, and partners shouldn’t fear anything.