Hackers have stolen the source code for their popular soccer game “FIFA 21,” game company Electronic Arts said Tuesday.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), EA issued a statement saying, “Someone recently broke into our network and stole a limited amount of game source code and related tools.”
“There has been no access to user data, and I don’t think there is any reason to believe that user privacy has been violated,” he said.
Source code is a kind of design that expresses all the contents of a particular software in a programming language, and from the perspective of a company, outsiders can replicate and modify the software at will, which can be hit hard.
Cybersecurity expert Brett Callow analyzed that losing control of EA’s source code could disrupt business.
“Other developers can copy the source code or manipulate the game as they please,” he told CNN.
Currently, online hacking forums have already posted hackers’ posts selling access to EA games and servers, according to IT media ZDnet.
These posts included hackers stealing 780 gigabytes of data from EA and selling all of these data and tools for $28 million (about 31 billion won).
One hacker wrote: ‘You could exploit all EA’s services.’
Electronic Arts said it has tightened its security and believes its business or games will not be affected by the incident.
Law enforcement authorities and experts are now cooperating with the investigation.
This is not the first time a video game company has been hacked recently.
Earlier this year, the game developer “CD Project,” which created “Cyberpunk 2077,” also said that cyberattacks caused an intrusion into its internal system.
In November last year, Capcom, which developed Resident Evil, said that unauthorized access from third parties has disrupted internal e-mail and file servers.
In the U.S., there have been a series of hacking attacks outside the game industry, raising concerns about weak cybersecurity.
Last month, JBS, the world’s largest butcher, was hacked and its plants in the U.S. and Australia were stopped, while the U.S. pipeline company Colonial Pipeline was also suspended due to ransomware attacks by hacker group Dark Side.
When the Colonial Pipeline, which is responsible for 45% of the oil supplied to the eastern coast of the United States, stopped operating, citizens were hoarding and causing major confusion.
