Electronic Arts did not succumb to hacker blackmail and the entire FIFA 21 source code was posted online. The ransom demanded by the hackers was 28 million dollars, a figure the company refused to pay, with the result that the stolen data is now online, available to virtually anyone. According to EA, the presence of this data in public form is not a threat to user privacy.
Electronic Arts does not give in to the requests of hackers
The story of the hacker attack on EA has had a series of truly unpredictable implications over the past few weeks. The hackers initially bought the data to access the software house’s Slack account on the black market. These credentials belonged to a senior employee, who gave them access to a number of private channels.
The hackers then managed to trick the technical support and then download the entire source code of FIFA 21, think a good 780 GB, at least according to the torrent files found online. At this point the ultimatums began: on the one hand the hackers tried to sell the code in various digital auctions, on the other hand they sent a ransom request to EA for 28 million dollars.
Unfortunately for them neither of these two negotiations seem to have been successful, given that the stolen data would be of little commercial interest, being devoid of sensitive or financial data. Therefore, in the absence of compensation, the pirates limited themselves to publishing the data on various forums which, from what emerged, contain the source code of FIFA 21 and little else.
EA then removed all doubts with a official statement: “During the intrusion, the hackers did not have the possibility to access the data of the players – explained a spokesman -” We have no reason, therefore, to believe that the privacy of the players is threatened “.