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Square Enix server hacked, 1.8 million accounts compromised

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On December 15, 2011, 12:00 PM EST

Square Enix, famous for the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises, has reported that a hacker gained unauthorized access to one of their servers. 1.8 million gamers in the US and Japan were affected although the company claims that no credit card information was compromised in the attack.

According to reports, the target of the attack was a free fan site called Square Enix Members. Officials at Square Enix noticed the unauthorized access on December 12 and subsequently shut the site down to investigate. Members of the site register using their email addresses but some enter additional information like names, addresses and phone numbers. A spokesperson for Square Enix said no credit card information is stored on the server.

Those affected include 1 million users from Japan and 800,000 gamers in the US. As of writing, the Square Enix Members site remains offline, instead redirecting visitors to a page explaining the breach and actions the company is taking moving forward. The message indicates that the suspension will continue for a few days until the security team completes their investigation and counter-measures are in place.

The video game industry has been the target of several hacker attacks this year. In April, Sony was hit with multiple attacks, bringing the company’s PlayStation Network offline for more than a month. Square Enix was also hacked around the same time. The email addresses of 25,000 customers and roughly 250 job applications were obtained and leaked in that attack.

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User Comments (6)

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tehbanz
on December 15, 2011
2:13 PM

Ugh, everytime a new website asks me for creds I always hesitate, often times erring on the "Do i REALLY need/want this?" side and not biting. or using fake credentials. I don't even give out my CC online anymore except for paypal. it sucks always having to use pre-paid PSN cards etc. but now BestBuy sells those electronically and emails you the codes, it's becoming easier to do.

numbered are the days where tons of websites have our CC info.

Reply

Guest
on December 16, 2011
1:11 AM

this is why you should never enter additional information ! Stupid !

Reply

NTAPRO
on December 16, 2011
2:01 AM

This si what happens when you don't relase a remake of FF VII

Reply

lchu12
on December 16, 2011
1:59 PM

NTAPRO said:

This si what happens when you don't relase a remake of FF VII

Agreed.

Reply

jester376
on December 18, 2011
3:38 PM

Agreed. You know I've posted this several times on facebook and twitter but it didn't have any impact. There were rumors that Square Enix was in the mist of making a remake but they abandoned the project on grounds that it would cost too much.

Reply

jester376
on December 18, 2011
3:38 PM

NTAPRO said:

This si what happens when you don't relase a remake of FF VII

on December 18, 2011

3:38 PM Agreed. You know I've posted this several times on facebook and twitter but it didn't have any impact. There were rumors that Square Enix was in the mist of making a remake but they abandoned the project on grounds that it would cost too much.

Reply

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