Genshin Impact had a massive issue with data protection. The phone numbers of many players were easily visible.
As a mobile game, many players linked their account to their phone number, which is quite normal. However, this could now become a problem, as in some cases, the number was very easy to access.
What happened? Yesterday, on November 9, 2020, a post appeared in the Genshin Impact subreddit, highlighting a major problem with data protection in Genshin Impact. Apparently, it was possible to access some private player data through password recovery – such as the phone number.
Only by entering the email address, in some cases, could one gain access to the phone number to initiate password recovery. Normally, phone numbers should be partially obscured with asterisks (e.g., “017******223”), but this was not always the case. Occasionally, the phone number was completely visible.
Why is this a problem? Even though one needs another player’s email address to view their phone number, this is still a significant issue. For many players, the phone number is a private matter and does not concern other players.
Especially for streamers and other public figures, this is frustrating, as they often use a publicly known email address while keeping their phone number secret. It is conceivable that some have now divulged more of their contact information than they ever intended.
Did this happen to all players? No. Many players report that their phone number is obscured in the game and on the website. Only a small percentage of players report that the phone number is revealed in this manner.
It also seems nearly impossible to establish a fixed pattern in the reports. The reports come from players in various countries, and currently, there seems to be no correlation between the player’s location and the disclosure of the number.
What should one do? Until the problem is definitely resolved, it seems wise to unlink your account from your phone number. In this case, although password resets via phone will not be possible, the phone number will also no longer be displayed during the attempt – whether fully or partially obscured.
While there are now initial reports from players that their number is being obscured correctly, until the problem is fully resolved, it might be better to be safe than sorry.
This issue was reported weeks ago: The frustrating thing is that this bug was reported weeks ago, as there was already a Reddit post on this topic that received significantly less attention. Thus, it appears that this bug may have existed in the game and on the website for several weeks and was only now addressed.
No official statement from miHoYo has yet been made regarding this incident.
Such a statement somewhat diminishes the anticipation for the major patch 1.1, which is set to release on November 11.
