Hackers on the rampage from the video game Fortnite? We don’t know yet, as we will see shortly. But we can guess why its flagship title could be a prey capable of enticing more than one malicious attacker, given that the IP in the hands of Epic Games has been able to invoice 9 billion and drag more than 45 million gamers onto its servers in a single day (the equivalent of the population of Spain, to be clear). What has happened in the last few days has yet to be discovered. In fact, there is a lot of confusion about this, fueled by Epic Games itself, the alleged victim of the affair, which has stated that now the internal investigation launched to find out whether the breach claimed by the cybercriminals was really committed has not brought any evidence.
Fortnite
The software house, which has been in the headlines in recent years for its long legal dispute with Apple and Google, is also said to have tried to contact the hackers without succeeding. But let us proceed in order. In the last few days, the Mogilevich pirate crew has declared in a post that it has stolen over 200 gigs of data from Epic Games for extortion purposes.
This would be information pertaining to registered users (passwords, e-mail addresses, names, source codes, payment systems, etc.), and if Epic Games wants to recover it, it must do so by March. A full-blown ultimatum. Even if it is not made explicit, as in many other similar cases, should the blackmailed person not be paid, the data could end up for sale on the deep web: there, they would then end up in the hands of those who have an interest in creating false profiles or those who try to cross-reference them to obtain access to databases of another nature, mainly banking ones.
The precedent that scares
Epic Games is known for its popular online shooter, Fortnite, and older titles, such as Unreal Tournament and the Gears of War series. The company also runs its online shop, the Epic Games Store, which offers free weekly games. Mogilevich is a new member of the ransomware business. Epic Games is only its fourth victim: the first was Infiniti USA, a subsidiary of Nissan, which was attacked on 20 February this year. The gang is probably Russian-speaking, and although, so far, they appear to operate on their own, they also advertise themselves as paid ransomware activists.
In the world of video games, there is a precedent that scares software houses: that of the ransomware group Rhysida, which published numerous data apparently stolen from the development studio Insomniac Games after hacking its cloud storage system at the end of last year. In that case, a ransom demand was also issued with an ultimatum, which Sony refused.
The information revealed at the time included five unannounced titles from Insomniac Games, including a Venom spin-off that is scheduled for 2025, a Wolverine game, Spider-Man 3, a new Ratchet and Clank title, and an X-Men game that would be out in 2030. Personal data from Insomniac Games’ employees was also divulged in the leak. Let’s not forget, after all, that paying does not guarantee the return of the loot, as it can easily be copied and stored in the cloud. Ubisoft was already targeted by hackers in 2022 and 2020. Hopefully, game studios will increase their security to avoid future breaches, protecting both their projects and personal data from employees and players, as the attacks will not be stopping anytime soon.
