Hacked: Codemasters latest gaming heavyweight to fall prey
by Steven Mostyn - Jun 13 2011, 06:00
The domino effect. Image: Codemasters.
Seems like the hacking bug just can’t be stamped out in the gaming sector at the moment. Moreover, with Nintendo recently falling into the crosshairs, and several of Sony’s divisions still reeling, third-party publisher Codemasters has now been hit.
The prominent UK-based outfit revealed the attack on Friday, explaining that nefarious hackers had successfully compromised the company’s online systems and made off with a database containing personal user details.
The initial hack actually took place on June 3, according to a company spokesperson, who was also keen to note that no customer account passwords or financial data had been pilfered during the breach.
Codemasters has since dispatched emails across its customer base, warning against responding to any suspicious emails carrying the ‘Codemasters’ masthead that might ask for direct password input and/or the transfer of personal financial details—something Codemasters would itself never do.
Worried customers accessing Codemasters’ games using Xbox Live or other online platforms have also been advised to err on the side of caution and change their user passwords as soon as possible.
Customer information lost during the hack reportedly includes names, postal and email addresses, birth dates, phone numbers and Xbox Live tags.
Online Codemasters properties affected by the attack include Codemasters.com, the DiRT 3 VIP code redemption page, the Codemasters E-Store, and the Codemasters corporate hub.
As things stand, the official Codemasters website is offline and all incoming traffic is being bounced to the publisher’s Facebook page. Codemasters has said its official domains will not return until it is completely safe to do so.
No one from the hacking community has yet accepted responsibility for the attack, although eyes in the security world are currently trained on the likes of Anonymous and LulzSec.
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