Riot Games says it has received ransom note following hack, but won’t pay up
>
Riot Games has said it will refuse to pay a ransomware demand to recover some source code after a recent cyber-attack.
In an update on the incident this week, Riot confirmed it was an extortion attack, noting that source code for League of Legends (LoL), Teamfight Tactics (TFT), and an old anti-hit platform had been exfiltrated by the attackers.
It also confirmed that it had received a ransom note, but added that it has no intention of paying the demanded ransom.
Personal data safe
“Today we received an email with a ransom. Needless to say, we won’t pay,” the said tweet (opens in new tab) without adding any further information about the ransom demand or the ransom amount.
To further explain the current state of affairs, the popular game development company said the attack “disrupted our build environment” which could cause problems in the future, but added that no player data or personal information was compromised as a result of the infringement. The crooks can use the stolen source code to create cheats for their games, but that’s about it.
“Since the attack, we’ve been working to assess its impact on anticheat and to be prepared to implement fixes as soon as possible if needed.”
The company also said that the source code contained a number of experimental features, some of which could have made it to the live version of the game.
“Most of this content is in prototype form and there is no guarantee it will ever be released,” the thread continues.
Riot also said its security teams are working with “world-renowned third-party consultants” on further evaluation of the attack and system audit. Police have been notified of the attack and have launched their own investigation, the company said.
Earlier this week, Riot Games reported on a data breach affecting some of its products, saying it could delay the release of game patches for LoL and TFT. All features that were scheduled to be released are still being released, but at a later date.
Through: The record (opens in new tab)