Game company, Ubisoft announced today that its servers had been hacked. In the blog post, Communications Manager Gary Steinman outlined the attack and its repercussions for Ubisoft users.
We recently discovered that one of our Web sites was exploited to gain unauthorized access to some of our online systems. We instantly took steps to close this off and to begin a thorough investigation with the relevant authorities, internal and external security experts, and to start restoring the integrity of any systems that may have been compromised.
The security breach affects user names, emails and passwords but not Ubisoft’s Uplay service. Ubisoft doesn’t store financial info, so credit and debit card data were not affected. Also, the company is confident that real names and home address information were not compromised.
Still, changing your username and password is recommended as soon as possible. Ubisoft’s FAQ about the hack and your next steps is below. Be sure to click over and change your password here!
What can I do to secure my account?
We are recommending all our users change their passwords. Password can be changed by clicking this link. We also recommend that you change your password on any other Web site or service where you use the same or a similar password. Please note that no personal payment information is stored with Ubisoft, meaning your payment details were not at risk from this intrusion.
How did this happen? Which website was exploited? Where did it come from?
Credentials were stolen and used to illegally access our online network. We can’t go into specifics for security reasons.
Has any of my personal data been compromised?
The intruder was able to access account data including user names, email addresses and encrypted passwords. To our knowledge, no other personal information (phone numbers, physical addresses etc. was accessed). No personal payment information is stored with Ubisoft, meaning your credit/debit card information was not at risk from this intrusion.
What is an encrypted password?
Passwords are not stored in clear-text but as an obfuscated value. These cannot be reversed but could be cracked, in particular if the password chosen is weak. This is the reason we are recommending that our users change their password.
Has any of my financial data been compromised?
No personal payment information is stored with Ubisoft, meaning your credit/debit card information was not at risk from this intrusion.
Which measures did you take following this incident?
We instantly took steps to close off this access, to begin a thorough investigation with relevant authorities, internal and external security experts, and to restore the integrity of any compromised systems.
Do you plan to take additional security measures in the future? Is there a risk of this happening again?
Ubisoft’s security teams are exploring all available means to expand and strengthen our security measures in order to better protect our customers. Unfortunately, no company or organization is completely immune to these kinds of criminal attacks.
Is it related to other recent hacks faced by other gaming companies?
There is no evidence that this intrusion is related to any other game company’s previous security incidents.
Was it Uplay that was hacked? Were its servers hacked?
No, the attack did not originate via any Uplay services, the intrusion targeted some of our online systems.
Have other Ubisoft systems been affected? Will your games’ online stability be affected by the attack?
We instantly began working to restore the integrity of any compromised systems and are continuing to investigate the incident. The uptime and stability of our games’ online services were not affected by this intrusion.
[Via: Ubisoft]