Hackers steal game source code from EA

Popular video game maker Electronic Arts (EA) recently suffered a breach by hackers who stole data including game source code. 

According to Vice News, which first reported the story on Thursday, the hackers posted in a forum that they had stolen materials including game source code from FIFA 21 and source code and other components of the game engine Frostbite, which powers games including Madden and FIFA. Posts reviewed by Motherboard show that the hackers advertised the source code for sale. 

Screenshots of that forum were provided to Motherboard by a source for review. The Hill has not independently verified these posts. 

In total, 780 gigabytes of data were stolen by hackers.

A spokesperson for EA told The Hill that hackers did not access any player data.

“Following the incident, we’ve already made security improvements and do not expect an impact on our games or our business. We are actively working with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of this ongoing criminal investigation,” a EA spokesperson said.

Data breaches and ransomware attacks have been receiving more attention, most notably after Colonial Pipeline suffered a ransomware attack last month, triggering a fuel shortage.

An EA spokesperson confirmed to CNN that this was not a ransomware attack.