FromSoftware’s parent company, Kadokawa Corp, has confirmed rumors that they have been hacked.
As shared on the GamingLeaksandRumors subreddit by user Fidler_2K, a ransomware group named BLACK SUIT claims to have stolen 1.5 TB of data from the company. The hackers shared this message:
“Our team gained access to the Kadokawa network almost a month ago. It took some time, because of the language, to figure out that Kadokawa subsidiaries’ networks were connected to each other and to get through all the mess Kadokawa’s IT department made there.
We have discovered that Kadokawa networks architecture was not organised properly. It was different networks connected to the one big Kadokawas infrastructure being controlled through global control points, such as eSXI and V-sphere.
Once we have gained access to the control center we have encrypted the whole network (Dwango, NicoNico, Kadokawa, other subsidiaries). The second part of our Team downloaded about TB1,5 [1.5 TB] of data from the networks.”
Now, in the bigger picture, FromSoftware is a small part of Kadokawa, a conglomerate whose arms extend to film studios, animation companies, print publications, etc. They own media as varied as the kaiju franchise Gamera, Japanese video website NicoNico, the French action film franchise The Transporter, and the manga/anime franchise Yotsuba.
The bigger threat to users would likely be user information at NicoNico, one of the biggest video websites in their home country. But just because FromSoftware isn’t the biggest entity in Kadokawa, and they were not named by the hackers, does not mean that their information isn’t at risk.
Since the ransomware hackers made this announcement, Kadokawa has made a press release of their own. They have confirmed that several business segments have been impacted. They are now investigating what information was stolen, but they can already rule out that that includes any credit card information. They will reveal their investigation foundings in July.
Since Kadokawa is still in the middle of their investigation, it is unlikely that we will find out soon if the players of FromSoftware games are affected. Nearly all of FromSoftware’s games have an online component, so there is a very real potential risk present. As of this writing, SteamDB logs a 24 hour peak of 484,319 concurrent players for Elden Ring, but this game’s lifetime peak was at 953,426 players. So are all these player’s data compromised?
We will be sure to update if FromSoftware shares any updates, which could possibly include advise on if it will be safe to keep playing their games online, or if they might shut those components down.
