Bandai Namco, the Japanese publisher of cult video game licenses like Dark Souls, has confirmed that it has been the victim of a ransomware attack. The company assures that it is currently investigating whether or not players’ personal data is at risk.
We talked about it yesterday in our columns. This Tuesday, July 12, 2022, several reputable Twitter accounts specializing in hacking and computer security assured that Bandai Namco, the publisher of Elden Ring and Dark Souls games, was the victim of a ransomware attack.
According to these sources, the Black Cat hacker group is behind this cyberattack. In the past, this entity has already distinguished itself in several large-scale attacks, such as the one carried out against Colonial Pipelines, one of the main American oil pipelines.
Until then, Bandai Namco had not yet spoken on the subject. In fact, it is impossible to know if the publisher had indeed been affected, if a ransom was requested or not and especially if certain data, in particular those of the players, were threatened or not.
Also read: Elden Ring – hackers invade your game and ruin hundreds of hours of play
Bandai Namco confirms hack, player data potentially at risk
Gold, the Japanese publisher has just confirmed the bad news. The company admitted that it was the victim of a hack on July 3, 2022, more than a week before the first elements of this attack began to circulate on the web and social networks.
Bandai Namco specifies that confidential information was accessed on its servers. In addition, there is “a possibility” that it is personal data belonging to the players. Since the cyberattack, the Japanese company has taken “measurements” to prevent further attacks. For the moment, the investigation carried out by the company is still ongoing, in order to determine the extent of the damage and find the flaws in his system. Here is the statement released by the publisher of Elden Ring and the Dark Souls series of games:
“On July 3, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. confirmed that it had experienced unauthorized third-party access to the internal systems of several group companies in Asian regions (excluding Japan). After confirming unauthorized access, we took actions such as blocking access to servers to prevent further damage. In addition, it is possible that information relating to customers of the Toys and Hobbies business in Asian regions (except Japan) has been included in servers and PCs, and we are currently in the process of identifying whether any data has leak, the extent of the damage, and to investigate the cause”.
The publisher specifies that it works with external organizations to strengthen its computer security.
Source : Eurogamer
