Monday, June 27, 2011

Electronic Arts website hacked


NEW YORK: Cyber hackers have breached an Electronic Arts Inc website and may have taken user information such as birth dates, phone numbers and mailing addresses, the company said on its website.

Electronic Arts is the latest victim in a spate of global cyber attacks waged against video game companies. Last week, Sega Sammy Holdings Inc reported that user information had been stolen from 1.3 million customers, while Sony Corp is still grappling with the massive breach that compromised the data of more than 100 million of its video game users in April.

Electronic Arts was not immediately available for comment on Friday. No hacker group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The video game publisher posted a set of questions and answers on its website addressing the attack, which hit a server for EA's Bioware studio in Edmonton, Canada. The hacked website was associated with the fantasy game "Neverwinter Nights."

The company said no credit card data or social security numbers were taken but other sensitive information may have been breached by hackers.

"Our investigation shows that information such as user names, encrypted passwords, email addresses, mailing addresses, names, phone numbers, CD keys and birth dates from accounts on the server system associated with Neverwinter Nights may have been compromised," the company said on its website.

EA offered tips to consumers to avoid identity theft and directed users to the US Federal Trade Commission's Internet fraud website.

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