Rockstar Games: Criminal gang publishes data

The data from the cyberattack on Rockstar Games has been published: The criminal cybergang ShinyHunters has published the dataset under the name “shouldve_paid_the_ransom_rockstar_shinyhunters.7z” on their darknet website – Rockstar Games had refused to pay the demanded ransom.

ShinyHunters obtained the data via Rockstar's Snowflake instances using the third-party tool AnoDot. The development studio has always emphasized that no user data was compromised in the attack. According to reports, the data now leaked primarily consists of financial information. It is said to show, among other things, how lucrative “GTA Online,” the multiplayer offshoot of “GTA 5,” is. The gaming magazine Kotaku has collected some financial figures. It is evident, among other things, that Rockstar Games generates significantly more revenue with “GTA Online” on consoles than on PC – a possible reason why no PC version of “GTA 6” has been announced yet.

At the current time, it is unclear whether the dataset contains even more sensitive information about Rockstar Games and its users. Rockstar Games was already the victim of a cyberattack years ago, in which, among other things, early gameplay material from “GTA 6” was stolen and published. The files originated from internal Slack chats at Rockstar Games.

“GTA 6” on November 19

ShinyHunters is a notorious gang that has attacked several well-known websites and operators in recent months alone. In February, the criminal perpetrators published data from users of the sales service provider CarGurus after extortion attempts had been unsuccessful. The published data is said to include more than 12 million email addresses. Last December, ShinyHunters accessed data from a service provider for Pornhub.

Rockstar Games continues to work on “GTA 6,” which is scheduled to be released on November 19. The “GTA” titles from the development studio are traditionally among the most successful video games ever. The latest installment is expected, among other things, to boost console sales and thus drive revenue in the rest of the gaming industry. With this high expectation comes a lot of attention – not only from fans but also from hackers.

(dahe)