18K Bioware and EA accounts may have been compromised by hackers

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Marz

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#1  Edited By Marz

Couldn't find it anywhere else on the forums.  But hackers got data from old Neverwinter Nights community forums.
 
The link to the Bioware response here 
EA's QA about the Breach
 
 Yesterday (June 14), we learned that a hacker gained unauthorized access to the decade-old BioWare community server system associated with the Neverwinter Nights forums.  We immediately took appropriate steps to protect our consumers’ data and launched an ongoing evaluation of the seriousness of the breach.  We have determined that no credit card data was compromised, nor did we ever have or store sensitive data like social security numbers.  However hackers may have obtained information such as user account names and passwords, email addresses, and birth dates of approximately 18,000 accounts--a very small percentage of total users.  We have emailed those whose accounts may have been compromised and either disabled their accounts or reset their EA Account passwords. If you did not receive an email from us, or if your password still works for your EA account, your username and password were not compromised.  Nevertheless, changing your password regularly is always helpful to protect your account.

We take the security of your information very seriously and regret any inconvenience this may have caused you.  If your username, email address and/or password on the Neverwinter Nights forums are similar to those you use on other sites, we recommend changing your password at those sites as well.  We advise all of our fans to always be aware of any suspicious emails or account activity and report any suspicious emails and account activity to Customer Support at
               1-866-543-5435       .  

Aaryn Flynn
Studio GM, BioWare Edmonton
VP, Electronic Arts

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Chop

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#2  Edited By Chop

I wonder... 
 
Are little hacks like this common and just getting far more attention than usual lately? 

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AhmadMetallic

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#3  Edited By AhmadMetallic

>_>

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Marz

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#4  Edited By Marz
@Chop: quite possibly recent hacks just made gaming companies more aware that they are being targeted.
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FritzDude

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#5  Edited By FritzDude

Weird.

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metal_mills

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#6  Edited By metal_mills

God, I can't remember if I signed up to the NWN and if I did then I would have even less of an idea with my username and password was.

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FritzDude

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#7  Edited By FritzDude

@Metal_Mills
If you can remember if you use your associated E-mail with NWN and haven't got any mail from Bioware or EA, then your information should be safe.

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Doctorchimp

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#8  Edited By Doctorchimp

OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!
 
Now who knows what else they can do? Is my Angelfire Digimon site username safe!!! Is it? What sort of world do I live in?

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PhatSeeJay

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#9  Edited By PhatSeeJay

Wasn't registered on that board, so I guess my super awesome 123456 password is safe another da- oops.

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Mechabolic

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#10  Edited By Mechabolic

It's probably because the suits that work in companies like EA, Sony, ect. don't realize just how easily it can be to break into complex networks.  I mean, it's like if a person owned a apartment and everyone that lived in it had a door that leads directly outside.  The person in charge of the apartment had to take precautions to prevent unscrupulous intruders from breaking into people's rooms.  Now, either the owner can put in a single lock in the main entrance but then put a large sign that says "Please don't enter through the side doors! -Management" that really won't keep people out that want to get in.  This is essentially what is happening with these large companies.  A lot of times, the will see how much it costs to secure their network and go "Nah, let's just hire that intern that set up our web page and call it a day."

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benjaebe

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#11  Edited By benjaebe

@Mechabolic said:

It's probably because the suits that work in companies like EA, Sony, ect. don't realize just how easily it can be to break into complex networks. I mean, it's like if a person owned a apartment and everyone that lived in it had a door that leads directly outside. The person in charge of the apartment had to take precautions to prevent unscrupulous intruders from breaking into people's rooms. Now, either the owner can put in a single lock in the main entrance but then put a large sign that says "Please don't enter through the side doors! -Management" that really won't keep people out that want to get in. This is essentially what is happening with these large companies. A lot of times, the will see how much it costs to secure their network and go "Nah, let's just hire that intern that set up our web page and call it a day."

Can we stop with the apartment metaphors already? They're barely functional at best. Hacking web forums and user data are just the "in" thing to do nowadays.

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Mechabolic

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#12  Edited By Mechabolic
@benjaebe: True, but think about WHY it's the in thing to do nowadays.  If someone has too much time on their hands and there is an easy way to gain 5 minutes of fame what would you think would happen?
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#13  Edited By BrainSpecialist

Oh, you guys!

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sammo21

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#14  Edited By sammo21

Waits for same outrage about data being breached that was shown towards Sony..... *crickets*

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#15  Edited By AndrewB

Wonder if their CD key info was stored on there as well. Bioware forums let you attach your CD key info to your account for perks and future retrieval. Haven't received an e-mail yet, though I was a heavy user of those forums back in the day. Funny thing is that I just barely changed my password from after the PSN hack, so now it's time for another round just to be on the safe side.

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Marz

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#16  Edited By Marz
@AndrewB: that is true, i remember having to register a cd key to the forum account to post on certain forums.
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#17  Edited By Branthog

We take the security of your information very seriously

Obviously not, if users passwords were compromised (wouldn't be likely if you were salt hashing them) and you were storing their DOB (wtf?).

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Vexxan

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#18  Edited By Vexxan

Everyone's getting hacked!!

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Scooper

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#19  Edited By Scooper

Looks like they handled the situation pretty well.

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#20  Edited By CL60

I just got the email today...why the delay? Oh well, it was just their old NWN server.

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#21  Edited By Franstone
@CL60 said:
I just got the email today...why the delay? Oh well, it was just their old NWN server.
I just got it tonight too, immediately went on GB to check around...
This legit?
NWN servers? I dunno if I've ever been on one...
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#22  Edited By Karl_Boss

Its okay, Lulzsec only does it "for the lulz"

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#23  Edited By Franstone
@Franstone said:
@CL60 said:
I just got the email today...why the delay? Oh well, it was just their old NWN server.
I just got it tonight too, immediately went on GB to check around... This legit? NWN servers? I dunno if I've ever been on one...
Yea I just quoted myself...
Legit.
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#24  Edited By SirPsychoSexy

Just got an email from BioWare/EA thought maybe I got into the SWTOR beta, Ha yea right. Instead my email and password for almost everything I use is out there. Awesome

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Simplexity

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#25  Edited By Simplexity

It's okay guys they did it for the lulz so it's justified.

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#26  Edited By Lucidlife

"Hackers" are quickly turning from respected pseudo-hero's to scumbag assholes. It's getting old. Seriously.

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#27  Edited By Rolyatkcinmai

Got the e-mail this morning. Made me chuckle, and simultaneously really miss Neverwinter Nights.

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#28  Edited By Badhands
@Chop said:
I wonder...  Are little hacks like this common and just getting far more attention than usual lately? 
Yup
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#29  Edited By Pinworm45

I didn't get any emails but today when I went to play ME2 It wouldn't accept my email/password for cerberus network, despite it working yesterday. This was the new combo I made after all the game hackings. 
 
And so I begin the process again. Fuck sakes.

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#30  Edited By haggis

I got the email early this morning, and was a bit confused by it. Sure, I went on the Neverwinter Nights forum years ago. Years ago. But I doubt they had any sensitive information about me, so I'm not sure it matters one way or the other.
 
@Lucidlife said:

"Hackers" are quickly turning from respected pseudo-hero's to scumbag assholes. It's getting old. Seriously.

Nah, it's always been this way. There have always been asshole hackers alongside more respected hackers. It's just a matter of who is in the news at any given moment. The white hat/black hat division within the hacking community has been there from the beginning. They just don't normally target people who naturally want to sympathize with them. Given the amount of (I think unreasonable) anger I see directed toward companies like EA, BioWare, Activision, Sony, etc., on even these boards, I'm not surprised they're the targets of hackers. And yes, it's getting old.
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#31  Edited By FritzDude

I have not touched the NWN servers and i got this mail today, even if i changed my password hours after the breach was confirmed just in case. It seems that Bio/EA have just reset everyone's passwords. So if you have problems login in to games like Dragon Age, Mass Effect or any EA games then your password has been reset.

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#32  Edited By OmegaPirate

Also just recieved this mail today - surprised the 'hack' happened a week ago though. 
I did play a lot of Nwn/2 online so i guess theres a good chance my deets are out there somewhere, outdated though they may be!