Star Trek Game Developer Faces Wrath Of Khan After Data Breach
Players of Star Trek Online warned after personal details and payment information stolen in December 2010
Online game developer Cryptic Studios has revealed it suffered a data breach 16 months ago.
The breach saw personal information and encrypted passwords, some of which have been partially cracked, stolen in December 2010, but the developer has waited until now to tell affected users.
It’s security, but not as we know it
Cryptic Studios, which develops massively multiplayer online role-playing games including Star Trek Online, admitted the breach in a statement on its official website and said it had emailed affected users.
“We recently detected evidence of an unauthorised access to one of our user databases,” the company wrote. “The unauthorised access occurred in December 2010, and evidence of this has just been uncovered due to increased security analysis.”
According to the developer, account names, handles and encrypted passwords were stolen and it was “apparent that the intruder has been able to crack some portion of the passwords in this database,” although all passwords have since been reset and users notified.
Cryptic also appears to be unsure if the intruder was able to access other information, such as first and last names, email address, date of birth, billing address and the first six and last four digits of credit cards, had been accessed, but admitted it was a possibility.
“While we have no evidence of unauthorised use of personal information as a result of this incident, to protect against any possible identity theft, we encourage you to remain vigilant, to review your account statements and to monitor your credit reports,” it added.
Last year, gamers were targeted in an attack on Sony’s Playstation Network which saw the personal information, and possibly payment details, of 77 million account holders in April. A second breach meant that basic services were not restored until May, but the incident was reported much more quickly than the Cryptic breach.
TechWeekEurope is hailing Cryptic Studios on all frequencies.
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