Beleaguered open-world zombie shooter The War Z is in more trouble as publisher OP Productions admits hackers exposed players’ personal information.
[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":709304,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"games,","session":"A"}']In response to the attack, OP Productions shut down The War Z’s servers and its message boards. In an open letter, the publisher confirmed that the hackers gained access to user email addresses and passwords. Payment information, such as credit-card numbers, remain secure with a third-party company.
From OP Productions’ letter:
We are sorry to report that we have discovered that hackers gained access to our forum and game databases and the player data in those databases. We have launched a thorough investigation covering our entire system to determine the scope of the intrusion. This investigation is ongoing and is our top priority. As part of the remediation and security enhancement process we will be taking the game and forums down temporarily.
In total, the hackers accessed the email, passwords, and IP addresses players used to access the game or the forums. The publisher used security encryption on the passwords, but it warns that the hackers could crack simple words.
OP Productions hired external experts and investigators to discover the flaws in its security. It claims to have already patched a “number of ways” that hackers obtained access.
“The security of your data is important to us and we want our players to be assured that we take this situation very seriously,” reads OP Productions’ letter. “We have taken steps to improve security to minimize the chance of this happening in the future and will continue to invest in improving security going forward.”
OP launched The War Z for PC in December. Valve yanked it from its digital-download store a day after its debut due to loud complaints from customers. Many pointed out that several of the promised features weren’t in the product that they had just purchased for $15. Others were disappointed with the quality of the survival game.
In late February, the publisher relaunched the zombie title. It has avoided other major issues until today.