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The War Z Gets Hacked

by Matthew Kato on Apr 02, 2013 at 05:50 AM

Zombie MMO The War Z has been hacked, according to the company, and subsequently taken offline. Users' info has been taken, but not any payment or billing info.

A statement from the company reads in part:

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.

We are issuing this Security Alert to all Survivors as a precaution so you can take some precautionary measures on your own. We have already taken a number of steps to increase security and are continuing to work with external advisors and investigators to identify and implement measures to minimize the chance of this happening in the future.

The data accessed included email addresses used to log-in to the forum, forum passwords which we encrypt, email addresses used to log-in to the game, encrypted game passwords as well as in-game character names and the IP addresses from which players log-in to the forum and to the game. If you posted other information to the forum it is likely that such data was accessed as well. We do not collect the names or addresses of our gamers so that information was not impacted unless you posted it on the forum. We are investigating whether additional information may have been obtained.

OP says that no payment or billing info was taken since all payments are handled through a third party, but it suggests you change your passwords even though they were encrypted.

The company says it has hired outside investigators, is updating its servers and services, and adding additional security.

"This has been a humbling experience for us," the statement reads. "While we all know that there is no guaranty of security on the internet, our goal is to try our very best to protect your data. We sincerely apologize."