Electronic Arts breached as hackers target Bioware

A SUBSIDIARY of the video games giant Electronic Arts (EA) and the creator of games like Mass Effect, Bioware has admitted to a computer attack on its systems.

Hackers targeted a forum associated with one of its well-known classic role-playing games, Neverwinter Nights. Bioware said that the server system associated with the forum was targeted with a "highly sophisticated and unlawful cyber attack".

Data that could have been compromised included user names, encrypted email addresses, mailing addresses, names, phone numbers, CD keys and birth dates. Additional information related to EA accounts, if connected to legacy Bioware accounts, could also have been put at risk. Unencrypted passwords of a "small number of users" were at also at risk and those affected have been notified.

Bioware said it secured the server system and evaluated the breach, and that it disabled related legacy accounts and reset the passwords of EA accounts. Bioware also warned its users to keep their eyes open for spear phishing attacks, which consist of emails that specifically target individuals more effectively by including their personal information.

EA is not the first big company to have been targeted, with a major spate of hacking attacks on corporations having appeared within the past few months. As well as major gaming firms like Sony, smaller video game companies like Codemasters, Sega and the creators of Eve Online have been affected. µ