Activision Hack Exposes Employee and Game Data
Video game company Activision Blizzard has confirmed a data breach in which employee and game information was taken. Call of Duty content has allegedly been leaked as a result of the hack.
Activision Blizzard Suffers a Data Breach
Activision Blizzard has confirmed that it suffered a data breach viasocial engineeringon December 4, 2022, resulting in the theft of game and employee information.
The breach came as a result of anSMS phishing schemethat allowed an attacker to infiltrate the company’s Slack channel through one employee account. The employee successfully targeted in the attack works for Activision’s Human Resources department and had access to a large volume of sensitive staff data.
Inan Insider Gaming article, the hack was seemingly confirmed. The author, Tom Henderson, wrote that “the data obtained contains plans for Modern Warfare 2’s upcoming DLCs, Call of Duty 2023 (Codenamed Jupiter), and Call of Duty 2024 (Codenamed Cerberus), as well as sensitive employee information.” The employee data stolen includes emails, phone numbers, names, workplaces, salaries, and more.
Call of Duty Info Has Been Leaked
This Activision data breach has reportedly resulted in leaks of Call of Duty content timelines up to November 2023.
Security researcher VX-Underground posted screenshots of the allegedly leaked schedule, along with a screenshot of the phishing SMS used in the attack. On top of this, VX-Underground posted a screenshot of the “#general” Activision Slack channel, showing the hacked employee account sending a message reading “I touch children”.
Activision Has Commented on the Breach
At the end of the aforementioned Insider Gaming post, a comment from Activision regarding the incident was provided.
Here, Activision stated that security was paramount to the company and that the SMS phishing attempt was quickly resolved. Lastly, Activision wrote that “no sensitive employee data, game code, or player data was accessed.”
Social Engineering Attacks Are Incredibly Common
In our modern technological age, cyberattacks using social engineering tactics happen constantly, with thousands of people and organizations falling victim to such scams every week. Because of this ongoing threat, it’s crucial to be aware of the signs of social engineering, and do what you’re able to to protect yourself from them.
Everyone thinks they won’t fall for a phishing scam, but people still do. So what are the red flags you need to watch out for? Here are some examples.
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