CD Projekt Held To Ransom After Cyber Attack
From even the greatest of horrors, irony is seldom absent - H.P. Lovecraft
Despite having to implement a wealth on knowledge surrounding cyber welfare into the title Cyberpunk 2077, you'd have assumed that the firewalls surround CD Project's programmes would be benevolently advanced.
However, irony has firmly grasped the long handle of its hammer and smacked the developers with a harsh taste of reality. CD Projekt has publicly announced that they have become a victim of a targetted cyber-attack which has resulted in the internal systems being compromised.
In releasing a statement on their official Twitter account, the developers stated: "An unidentified actor gained access to our internal network, collected certain data belonging to CD Projekt capital group, and left a ransom note".
The ransom note, whilst rather illiterate, has a serious meaning that directly impacts the developers. Within the letter, they revealed that "you have been EPICALLY pwned" (professional huh?), whilst diving into the contents at which have become breached. These consist of source codes from Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, and its unreleased content, and Gwent, all of the companies accounting, legal, administrative, legal, HR, and investor relations documents, and encrypted all their servers.
Has CD Projekt's Player Data Been Breached?
CD Projekt has been quick to implore that "to the best of our knowledge - the compromised systems did not contain any personal data of our players or users of our services".
What Do The Hackers Want From The Ransom?
The anonymous source is seemingly taking advantage of the developers extremely bumpy and declining public image, although the contents of their ransom remain unknown. Within the ransom letter, they simply state "If we will not come to an agreement, then your source codes will be leaked online and your documents will be sent to our contacts in gaming journalism." before adding "You have 48 hours to contact us".
The news means that the year goes from bad to worse for CD Projekt having previously been heavily criticised over the launch of Cyberpunk 2077. The developers released the statement as of 8am GMT, February 9, meaning that the clock is ticking and the story should soon unfold further.
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Image via CD Projekt