Electronic Arts confirms its source code was stolen after hack

Although all of us who go online are at risk of becoming victims cyber criminalsLarge companies are often in constant focus due to the value of their information. From time to time we learn that the networks of some important companies They were raped And this time, electronic arts confirmed His source code was stolen.

Giant video game electronic arts (she) just announced it pirates The source code and other tools for some of his games were stolen. Although they made it clear that it’s unlikely to be attack have an effect on playersor their titles or in their business operations.

EA admitted the intrusion after Vice Media reported that hackers had taken the code used for the games; between them FIFA 21, And the engine Frostbite Which is used in different EA games.

“We are investigating a recent intrusion into our network where there were a limited number of sources Toys and related tools stolen,” an EA spokesperson said. He also noted that no player data has been accessed and there is no reason to believe there is privacy risks of the players.

The company said it was “actively” working with authorities and experts “as part of a… criminal investigation “.

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How was the attack discovered?

The reason why attack Is that the deputy site mentioned it pirates They bragged about the attack on secret Internet forums and claimed that one of their posts read “You have full power to exploit all EA Services.”

According to the portal, cyber criminals They claimed to have stolen about 780 gigabytes of data.

It should be noted that the company is one of the largest gaming companies in the world. Major series such as Battlefield, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, The Sims, and Titanfall are counted among the titles it develops or publishes, as well as a wide range of annual sports.

As far as is known, the intrusion into the network has nothing to do with an attack before ransomware or information theft. It sure also happened recently, according to EA.

The intent of the hackers seems to be to sell information from the source code, that is, the version of the program that is generally easier to read and understand than the final version in the final product, and can be used to make Reverse Engineering in parts of the product.

For example, the Frostbite engine, which they claim has its source code pirates, It is a powerful game creation tool used in dozens of games, from FIFA To the Battlefield series and many recent EA Star Wars games. This is why it can be so valuable to a developer who wants to copy it, or to those who created it cheat codes for games.

Finally, it must be said that the video game sector has already suffered from major attacks. In November last year, Capcom, the maker of Street Fighter and Resident Evil, was the victim of a ransomware attack that may have exposed the personal information of up to 350,000 people. And in February, Cyberpunk developer CD Projekt Red suffered another ransomware attack that led to the theft and auctioning of the source code of various games, in which case the hackers claimed to have sold the data for more than 7 million euros. .