Hackers broke into the systems of Electronic Arts (EA) – one of the largest video game publishers in the world – and stole the source code of games, as the company itself announced on June 10. Specifically, the attackers claim to have stolen the source code for games such as FIFA 21 and the Frostbite engine , which is the basis for many other popular video games.
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In posts shared by the perpetrators on hacking forums, they claim to be in possession of 780GB of data stolen from EA and are advertising it for sale. Along with the source code for FIFA 21, they also claim to have stolen the code for the matchmaking server, the source code and tools for Frostbite, which powers games like Battlefield and Madden, as well as exclusive EA frameworks and software development kits.
Brett Callow, a cybersecurity expert and threat analyst at Emsisoft, said that losing control of the source code could be a problem for Electronic Arts. The source code could, in theory, be copied by other developers or used to create hacks for games.
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Additionally, Ekram Ahmed, a spokesperson for cybersecurity firm Check Point, said: “If the source code is leaked, it won’t be good. Hackers can dig into the code, find deeper flaws to exploit, and sell the previous code on the dark web to other malicious actors.”
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A spokesperson for the company told Vice (which first reported the incident) that no player data was compromised, adding: “We are investigating a recent breach of our network, where a limited portion of game source code and related tools were stolen. No player data was accessed, and we have no reason to believe that player privacy was at risk. We have already implemented security improvements following the incident and do not anticipate any impact to our games or business. We are actively working with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of this ongoing investigation.”
