CD Projekt Red, the developer of Cyberpunk 2077, announced on Twitter that they became the target of a cyber attack. The company is being extorted with stolen data, but went public and showed the letter from the attacker.
What happened? As the studio reports, a hacker gained access to the company’s network and stole data. However, it is said that no personal data of the players was involved, as CD Projekt Red explained in a statement.
Instead, it seems to be internal data such as documents from the finance department and HR, as well as source codes of games.
The thief tried to extort CD Projekt Red by threatening to “leak” the data to journalists. The developers decided to make the case public.
Hacker gives developers 48 hours to respond
What did the extortionist write exactly? In addition to their own statement, the developers also released a text file containing the extortion letter.
It states that during the attack
- the source codes of Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Gwent, and an unreleased version of The Witcher 3 were stolen.
- documents from administration, the legal department, HR, investors, and more were taken.
- the servers were encrypted.
The attackers gave CD Projekt Red 48 hours to contact them and reach an “agreement.” Otherwise, the info is supposed to be leaked to journalists.
This action is intended to damage the company’s image and lead investors to lose trust.
What is the studio doing? As CD Projekt Red stated, they will not comply with the extortionist’s demands. Instead, steps have been initiated to restore the data.
In addition, the studio is taking legal action against the hacker:
We have already contacted the relevant authorities, including law enforcement and the President of the Office for the Protection of Personal Data, and will work closely with them to fully clarify this incident.
CD Projekt Red is one of the largest publishers in Europe but has been heavily criticized for the release of Cyberpunk 2077. Reasons for this include general bugs in the game, significant problems on the old console generation PS4 and Xbox One, as well as the crunch that occurred beforehand.
In January, the head of the game commented on the allegations:
Head of Cyberpunk 2077 responds to allegations: “I wouldn’t call it disastrous”
