Tuesday, February 9th 2021

CD Projekt RED Hacked, Attacker Claims to Have "Cyberpunk 2077" and "The Witcher 3" Source Code

CD Projekt RED just announced that it has been hit by a cyber-attack on its internal network, with the attacker having gained access to certain sensitive information belonging to the CD Projekt group. In a press note posted to Twitter, the studio included the screenshot to a plain-text ransom note left on its servers by the attacker, who claims to possess source-code of the company's most popular titles, including "Cyberpunk 2077," "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," "Gwent," and an unreleased version of "The Witcher 3" (possibly a remaster). They also claim to have confidential documents related to CDPR's financial accounting, administration, legal, HR, IR, and more. The note ends with information on how to reach out to the attacker to discuss ransom within 48 hours. CDPR announced that it will not give into the demands of the attacker, and has reached out to law enforcement.
Source: CD Projekt RED (Twitter)
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75 Comments on CD Projekt RED Hacked, Attacker Claims to Have "Cyberpunk 2077" and "The Witcher 3" Source Code

#26
Valantar
NightIt's clear that the motive in the text file is big unsatisfaction with the game/company which most likely caused this, at no point did I say that's alright to do. Hatred can be a better motivator than money in my opinion.
I wasn't commenting on the hacker's motivations, I was commenting on people here effectively saying "this is a reasonable and acceptable response".

But even if I was commenting on the hacker's motivations ... so what? Does them saying so make it any less absurd? Of course not.
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#27
Vayra86
ratirtThe world is collapsing.
That's all fine as long as they fix Cyberpunk 2077 before it does.
ValantarPerhaps not surprising, but it's pretty damn depressing that an expected response to "someone made a game with lots of bugs" is "someone broke into their servers, stole all their files, and is now blackmailing them". The internet version of justice is very, very messed up.
Keyboard heroism, that is all. Ignore and move on. These idiots get way too much exposure as it is. Its depressing and its also their own loss having such a narrow view on reality. They'll figure it out once they step outside again.
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#28
Renald
Hacking a company as "selfless" a CDPR is a crime against common sense. The guy can hack EA, Ubi, and some crappy publisher, but stay away from company that are still a bit passionate about what they do.
They'll probably ignore the whole thing, and the frustrated employee / ex-employee will have only his tears of salt.

I don't say CDPR is an angel, but we have to recognized that it's one of the most, if not the most, human company in game industry with that size (800 or so). Seriously, free update, big games for cheap, nearly no-DLC kit games, etc.
This guy is seriously deranged.
Next he's going to hack NPO ? The WHO because of Covid ?

Fucked up world with fucked up people.
Posted on Reply
#30
Easo
ReadlightHaven't they have backup?
They have, but that does not change the whole stolen data thing, it still is, supposedly, in hackers hands.
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#31
r9
Maybe the hackers can fix CP2077.
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#32
RH92
What im more interested in is what documents do these hackers have that will compromise CDPR image even more !
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#33
bug
RH92What im more interested in is what documents do these hackers have that will compromise CDPR image even more !
These threats are usually generic, there doesn't have to be anything substantial behind them.

Also, it's interesting you think the only publisher that still gives us great games, DRM-free has an image beyond repair. Besides them not releasing in the best shape (but always offering an enhanced edition free of charge later on) and some mismanagement accusations, I hold them in pretty high regard.
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#34
Chrispy_
Even if all that shit the hackers claim gets leaked it's hardly going to have an impact. Bigger companies leak more on a regular basis through sheer incompetence, not even being hacked! Half of the stuff is going to be public domain anyway (for accounts, tax declarations, company registration etc).

Every company has some unprofessional internal correspondance, that's why it's internal. For CDPR's internal comms to be exposed to the web will be of interest and surprise to no-one who works in a company that has more than a tiny handful of employees.
Posted on Reply
#35
mouacyk
Wonder what an extradition to Poland will be like. Poland contributed some 8million into CDPR, didn't they?
Posted on Reply
#37
Totally
1d10tMaybe it's just angry costumer whom had nonrefundable physical disc.
That's on them. There was no such thing when refunds were being issued no questions asked and had a whole month to do so.
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#38
enxo218
sounds like a lie to me...cdpr can claim victim status and everyone will be sympathetic and forget their mess

if it is true however I can see the reasoning behind the lax attitude over the release threat....the docs are probably unfinished if not outright non existent except in title
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#39
Vayra86
enxo218sounds like a lie to me...cdpr can claim victim status and everyone will be sympathetic and forget their mess

if it is true however I can see the reasoning behind the lax attitude over the release threat....the docs are probably unfinished if not outright non existent except in title
Victim status for what? Its their own security, their own employees possibly, or their own lack of compliance.

You either have checks and balances in place or you do not. And besides, who would be interested in what's stolen? If this is their way of getting into Scene releases its not how to do it :D

This is where a company can do a very simple thing: full transparency on the stolen data. Here it is. Know it so that its value vanishes overnight. Trololol... you committed a criminal offense, we're going on, kthxbai :)
Posted on Reply
#40
mouacyk
Vayra86Victim status for what? Its their own security, their own employees possibly, or their own lack of compliance.

You either have checks and balances in place or you do not. And besides, who would be interested in what's stolen? If this is their way of getting into Scene releases its not how to do it :D

This is where a company can do a very simple thing: full transparency on the stolen data. Here it is. Know it so that its value vanishes overnight. Trololol... you committed a criminal offense, we're going on, kthxbai :)
There remains the issue of the thief having possession of valuable IP (source code), because obviously CDPR can't spill that in the name of transparency and effectively dumping the value of its IP's (now Poland's as well.) There is a black market for it.
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#41
Valantar
It's pretty fascinating to see how a certain type of deeply flawed logic has really ingrained itself across some parts of the internet. One might think this was a discussion of an alleged sexual assault if we didn't know it was a hacking case. Victim blaming? Check, check. "They're probably making it up for sympathy"? Check. Is someone going to waltz in saying "Jeez, they were asking for it, going around dressed like that" next?

There really is something to the idea that internet right-wing movements have twisted and weaponized basic tenets of media literacy (such as "be critical of what you're told" and "those with an economic and political interest in swaying you are likely to try to do so") into such a parody of itself that a scary amount of people are suddenly more likely to believe weird conspiracy theory logic than far simpler explanations. Occam's razor is still an excellent tool.
Posted on Reply
#42
Vayra86
mouacykThere remains the issue of the thief having possession of valuable IP (source code), because obviously CDPR can't spill that in the name of transparency and effectively dumping the value of its IP's (now Poland's as well.) There is a black market for it.
That's the aftersales thing :D Still don't really have any other options than sucking it up and damage mitigation in the form of making your new content updates too hard to miss, effectively making old code irrelevant.
Posted on Reply
#44
mouacyk
Vayra86That's the aftersales thing :D Still don't really have any other options than sucking it up and damage mitigation in the form of making your new content updates too hard to miss, effectively making old code irrelevant.
IP holders could always offer a bounty for anyone seeing such an offer to sell.
Posted on Reply
#45
Valantar
Is stolen code really something that actually matters? I mean, do people compile their own games? I kind of doubt that. And if it allows hackers to crack things ... so what? They always find a way. Just patch it. Given that the game is sold DRM-free on GOG it's not like piracy is much of a concern for CDPR. So ... what, exactly, do they stand to lose from people having access to a bunch of source code?
Posted on Reply
#46
mouacyk
ValantarIs stolen code really something that actually matters? I mean, do people compile their own games? I kind of doubt that. And if it allows hackers to crack things ... so what? They always find a way. Just patch it. Given that the game is sold DRM-free on GOG it's not like piracy is much of a concern for CDPR. So ... what, exactly, do they stand to lose from people having access to a bunch of source code?
Have you seen the Chinese knock-offs? It's an opportunity lost in some markets, because now they can take stolen code, redress it, and sell it to a customer base that doesn't know any better.

I'm sure plenty are aware of the myriad of private mmo game servers out there... while a few are legitimately extending the life of an EOL product, the vast majority are profiting off work not their own by injecting micro transactions and cosmetic packages and letting people play at no charge. Who knows what potential malicious code could have been compiled into the released client binaries also...
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#47
Dredi
mouacykHave you seen the Chinese knock-offs? It's an opportunity lost in some markets, because now they can take stolen code, redress it, and sell it to a customer base that doesn't know any better.

I'm sure plenty are aware of the myriad of private mmo game servers out there... while a few are legitimately extending the life of an EOL product, the vast majority are profiting off work not their own by injecting micro transactions and cosmetic packages and letting people play at no charge. Who knows what potential malicious code could have been compiled into the released client binaries also...
I’m pretty sure you can re-dress it with the modding tools as well. It’s not like this really affects their bottom line. IMO they should just own it and put it up on GIT with GPL and thus stay true to their promise of exhaustive modding support. Just keep the art assets on a non free license and no-one can profit from it without a massive budget or without getting sued.
If they planned on selling the engine, I’m pretty sure they can still sell support with a good profit margin.
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#48
moproblems99
If true, I hope they get bitch slapped and the remainder of their punishment is to fix CP2077 for free
Posted on Reply
#49
Totally
EasoThey have, but that does not change the whole stolen data thing, it still is, supposedly, in hackers hands.
Not supposedly, CDPR confirmed that they do have it.
Posted on Reply
#50
Valantar
mouacykHave you seen the Chinese knock-offs? It's an opportunity lost in some markets, because now they can take stolen code, redress it, and sell it to a customer base that doesn't know any better.

I'm sure plenty are aware of the myriad of private mmo game servers out there... while a few are legitimately extending the life of an EOL product, the vast majority are profiting off work not their own by injecting micro transactions and cosmetic packages and letting people play at no charge. Who knows what potential malicious code could have been compiled into the released client binaries also...
That sounds ... unlikely. As @Dredi said above they could do the same with modding tools if that was what someone wanted. As for private MMO game servers ... all the games in question are single-player. So ... yeah. Oh, not Gwent, of course. But ... it's Gwent. Who cares? If you need to steal code to make a fantasy card battling game, you won't be able to skin one based on stolen source code either.
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