Polish video game company CD Projekt has revealed it has fallen victim to a cyber-attack in which some of its internal systems have been compromised and a number of devices in its network encrypted.
The developer of the well-known video game Cyberpunk 2077 reported the incident in a tweet this morning, also publishing a ransom note left by the attackers. In the message, the hackers claimed to have accessed the source code for the games Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Gwent and an “unreleased version of Witcher 3” as well as “documents relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investor relations and more!” They threatened to sell or leak this information online if “we will not come to an agreement.”
However, CD Projekt said it is refusing to negotiate with the attackers, adding that it is investigating the incident in collaboration with IT forensic specialists and has informed the relevant authorities of the breach. It acknowledged that “certain data belonging to CD Projekt capital group” was taken and that some devices in its network had been encrypted, although its backups remain intact and it has started the process of restoring the data.
The company also confirmed that “to its best knowledge” no personal data of users of its services have been compromised.
In the statement, CD Projekt said: “We will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data. We are taking necessary steps to mitigate the consequences of such a release, in particular by approaching any parties that may be affected due to the breach.”
Commenting on the incident, Jake Moore, cybersecurity specialist at ESET, outlined: “This is quite possibly the eventuality that CD Projekt have been expecting for some time. As frustrating as it must be, it appears that the company has the correct protocol in place to withstand such demands and upheaval, and are refusing to pay the attackers. All good businesses have critical redundancies in place to mitigate the risk and this can only be truly simulated by testing the backups regularly and red teaming the company.
“We unfortunately live in a world where very little remains untouchable but the forward thinking decision makers understand this risk and spend money and time in reducing the impact.”