This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things, People
First Capcom was attacked by hackers, now Koei Tecmo has been targeted. We really wish we were surprised. Instead, we’re just disappointed. The good news is that this new cyber attack doesn’t seem to have been aimed at exposing anyone’s personal data, but it still leaked a lot of stuff that should’ve been kept private. And no, we’re not talking about new games–we’re talking about peoples’ login information. Around 65,000 accounts on Koei Tecmo Europe’s forum have been compromised. The stolen information includes:
- Account names
- Account passwords (in an encrypted state)
- Mail addresses
Good news: the investigation so far shows that no credit card information or similarly critical customer or employee info has been stolen.
Bad news: Koei Tecmo has shut down the official sites for Koei Tecmo America and Koei Tecmo Europe and rendered them inaccessible, just to be on the safe side. Furthermore, the internal network for Koei Tecmo Europe has been cut off from the rest of Koei Tecmo’s internal network. Both sites now redirect to a blank page which reads: “Due to the possibility of an external cyberattack on this website, it is temporarily closed as we investigate the issue.”
The investigation is still ongoing, but DualShockers reports that someone on a hacking-related forum has claimed responsibility for the attack. The article in question states that this poster also claims “to be selling information regarding FTP authentication and Koei Tecmo’s official twitter accounts through bitcoin.”
Between COVID-19 delaying their Fairy Tail game and the Dead or Alive 6 hair fiasco, Koei Tecmo hasn’t been having a great time lately. Please leave them alone. Unless you’re whistleblowing on some really unsavory practices. But somehow, we doubt you’re going to unearth human rights abuses or unwarranted surveillance by stealing peoples’ passwords. Seriously, the more time you spend doing this, the less time these companies will spend actually making games.
Have you been affected by these cyber attacks? Let us know down in the comments, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook.