CD Projekt Red Fall Victim to Ransomware Attack
In a shocking revelation, the developers of Cyberpunk 2077, CD Projekt Red, have been the latest victims of ransomware attacks. They released a statement on Twitter saying that huge amounts of commercially sensitive data had been compromised.
The perpetrators left a ransom note in the form of a text file titled ‘read_me_unlock’, which detailed the data that had been stolen. The statement, along with the note, went as follows.
“Hello CD Projekt
Your have been EPICALLY pwned!!
We have dumped FULL copies of the source codes from your Perforce server for Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Gwent and the unreleased version of Witcher 3!!!
We have also dumped all of your documents relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investor relations and more!
Also, we have encrypted all of your servers, but we understand that you can most likely recover from backups.
If we will not come to an agreement, then your source codes will be sold or leaked online and your documents will be sent to our contacts in gaming journalism.
Your public image will go down the shitter even more and people will see how you shitty your company functions.
Investors will lose trust in your company and the stock will dive even lower!
You have 48 hours to contact us.”
The hackers claim to have stolen full copies of the source code for various games from the developers’ Perforce servers. For those who are not aware, Perforce is an enterprise version management system that enables developers to store important data in a shared repository. The hackers even claimed they would leak the unreleased version of The Witcher 3, the magnum opus of CD Projekt Red.
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In addition to the game files, other sensitive documents from accounting, legal, HR, investor relations, administration etc were also stolen. The hackers even went so far as to encrypt the CD Projekt Red servers so that the developers won’t be able to access them. However, CDPR already stated that they have secured their IT infrastructure and are working to restore the servers from backups.
CD Projekt Red have outlined their course of action regarding this threat, and have contacted the appropriate authorities as well as IT forensics experts to help them further investigate the situation. They also went on record to state that they will not give in to the demands of the hackers.
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This bizarre move comes shortly at the heels of the disappointing launch of Cyberpunk 2077. The game that was in development for nearly a decade failed to meet the standards required by AAA games in the industry. The developers realized quickly that the game was doing poorly and issued refunds to all owners of the game, and set in motion a robust plan of action to fix the game. Their most recent major update was the first step they outlined in their road to redemption, which panned throughout the rest of 2021. Additionally, several rumors were circulating the internet regarding the poor treatment of employees by CD Projekt Red. These rumors, however, have been debunked by the developers themselves.
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