Koei Tecmo Europe has been the victim of a cyber attack. In response to the attack, the company has shut down its European website, as well as its American website as a precaution. It's understood that no sensitive financial data is at risk from the attack.
What data has been compromised in the Koei Tecmo attack?
According to a Koei Tecmo press release, login information for about 65,000 European forum accounts could have been leaked. The press release states that the leak likely began occurring on Christmas Day. So far, Koei Tecmo has confirmed that account names, encrypted passwords, and email addresses have been leaked. Right now, the company says no critical personal information - credit card details, personal addresses, et cetera - has been leaked as part of the cyber attack. It's not currently clear who the perpetrators of this attack might be.
Right now, both the Koei Tecmo Europe and America websites are completely offline. In place of the content you'd usually see on those sites, you'll instead be greeted by the following message: "Due to the possibility of an external cyberattack on this website, it is temporarily closed as we investigate the issue". In addition to these precautions, Koei Tecmo Europe has been disconnected from the studio's larger network while the company investigates the cyber attack. According to DualShockers, it's not just the personal account information that's been compromised in the attack; hackers are apparently also offering FTP authentication information and official Koei Tecmo Twitter account credentials in exchange for bitcoin.
How will the Koei Tecmo attack affect you?
As soon as you're able, it's a good idea to change your password if you have an account on the studio's Europe or America forums. In the unfortunate event that financial information does turn out to have been leaked, be sure to remove any financial info you have linked to your Koei Tecmo account and also conduct a review of that same information on other platforms.
This hack doesn't seem to bear the same severity as the one that hit Capcom some weeks ago. In that attack - which was perpetrated by hackers using Ragnar Locker tools - a huge amount of Capcom data was leaked, including personal information pertaining to current and former Capcom employees and customers. This Koei Tecmo investigation is still in its early stages, so it could turn out to be more severe than initially thought, but right now it seems smaller in comparison. We'll bring you more on this as soon as we get it.
Have you been affected by this hack? Let us know in the comments below!
