Data Breach Hits EA

Well, here we are again. Another year, another gaming industry breach. I’m no expert, but one would think after so many hacks year after year from Microsoft to Sony, these companies would have better preventative measures in place. The victim this time…Electronic Arts (EA). According to MotherBoard, hackers have gotten their hands on the source code for FIFA 21, the Frostbite engine used for EA’s sports games and Battlefield. Of course there’s a Battlefield game right around the corner so certainly this may not help sales initially and could even affect the games success over all.

This isn’t the first time hackers have swiped the source codes from the gaming industry. It wasn’t to long ago Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 were victims. For those of you who are a little unsure, a source code is basically the software behind the game, engine or anything making up the program created by a person or company. Additionally, the hackers claim to have access to matchmaking servers and EA framework and software development kits. Furthermore, they have accessed and stolen over 780 GB of data and are claiming to be advertising the information for sale on underground hacker forums.

At this time EA is saying, “No player data was accessed and we have no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy,”. Additionally they add, “We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source codes and related tools were stolen,” an EA spokesperson said in a statement. The company said it had already improved security and stated that it did not expect “an impact on our games or our business”. Now the only thing I can’t help but think is this…if there was room for improvement AFTER the hack, why was there not as much protection in place as possible to begin with? Regardless, EA has a huge mess to clean up and a reputation to work on. No doubt this is a huge blow to them and it will not be a fast recovery.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57431987