Game-maker Electronic Arts and the Presque Isle Police Department in Maine respond to an event they both feared: the theft of gigabytes of private data by hackers who breached their Internet-connected networks.
In EA’s case, the theft involved 780GB of source code and tools for FIFA 21, according to a post published on an underground crime forum earlier this week. The person who published the post, with the username Leakbook, offered to sell the data.
“You have full capabilities to exploit all EA services,” the person wrote.
The message looks like this:
The post didn’t mention how the source code was obtained, but in a statement, EA officials said the company had encountered a network compromise that allowed an intruder to make off with the game’s source code and tools. The statement read:
We are investigating a recent incident of hacking into our network in which a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen. Player data has not been accessed and we have no reason to believe that there is any risk to players’ privacy. After the incident, we have already implemented security improvements and do not expect any impact on our games or our business. We are actively working with law enforcement and other experts as part of this ongoing criminal investigation.
Separately, nearly 200GB of private data belonging to the Presque Isle Police Department has been dumped online by a ransomware group known as Avaddon. The police station was hacked on April 18 and given 10 days to pay the ransom. The department was able to rebuild its network using data backups and refused to pay.
Earlier this week, Avaddon finally made good on his threats by posting the data on his website hosted on the dark web. The capture includes 15,000 emails, according to the leak site Distributed Denial of Secrets, which makes the data available to journalists and researchers.
A survey of the Avaddon site also showed a sample of police reports and witness statements dating back to at least 2011. The files documented incidents of domestic violence, shoplifting and physical assault, and in many cases provided phone numbers, addresses and other personal information of victims and suspects. .
The attacks hitting EA and the Presque Isle Police Department are the latest manifestations of a plague that is becoming more damaging than ever. Last month, ransomware attackers caused major disruptions to gasoline and jet fuel supplies in the southeastern US. Earlier this month, JBS, the largest U.S. meat supplier, temporarily closed its U.S. factories after a ransomware attack on its network.