Player Information at Risk as The War Z Hacked

Controversial zombie shooter The War Z has been taken offline following the hacking of the game's forums and databases putting at risk personal information including email addresses, IP addresses and passwords.

Confirmation of the hack comes from the game's publisher, OP Productions, who clarified that financial information is not at risk as all transactions are handled through a third party. 

In a statement OP Productions commented ""We are sorry to report that we have discovered that hackers have gained access to our forum and game databeses and the player information in those databases. We have launched a thorough covering our entire system to determine the scope of the intrusion. The investigation is ongoing and is our top priority. As part of the remidiation and security enhancement process we will be taking the game and forums down temporarily." 

The publisher gave no indication of when they first became aware of the hack. OP Productions added that all information on the forums and in the databases in encrypted but that does not guarantee hackers cannot gain access to it.

"There is a possibility that simple passwords can be obtained using brute force even if they are encrypted," they noted. "Our research shows that many users are not using strong passwords." 

Describing the hack as a "humbling experience" OP Productions has brought in "outside experts and investigators" and has committed "substantial resources" to investigating the hack.

The War Z has had a troubled period since launch being pulled from Steam amid accusations of fraud. It then became apparent that the game's trademark had been suspended. The War Z was reintroduced to Steam in late February.