Hacking group claims Epic Games breach
UPDATE: "We are not a ransomware-as-a-service, but professional fraudsters."
UPDATE 4/3/24: A group which claimed to have breached Epic Games' servers has admitted their claim was false, and said they were instead "professional fraudsters" looking for a payout.
Mogilievich's aim, the group now claims, was to trick hackers into believing they had the tools to hack big-name companies - which they could then sell on for other hackers to make use of themselves.
A spokesperson for the group told CyberDaily, which first reported the alleged Epic Games breach, that they were going public with their plan now to highlight their efforts as "criminal geniuses".
UPDATE 28/2/24 1.20pm UK: Epic Games has moved quickly to calm fears of a potential ransomware attack, after a group claimed to have breach the company's servers and stolen data.
"We are investigating but there is currently zero evidence that these claims are legitimate," an Epic Games spokesperson told Eurogamer this morning.
"Mogilievich has not contacted Epic or provided any proof of the veracity of these allegations. When we saw these allegations, which were a screenshot of a darkweb webpage in a Tweet from a third party, we began investigating within minutes and reached out to Mogilevich for proof. Mogilevich has not responded. The closest thing we have seen to a response is this Tweet, where they allegedly ask for $15k and 'proof of funds' to hand over the purported data.
ORIGINAL STORY 28/2/24 11am UK: Fortnite maker Epic Games has reportedly suffered a ransomware attack, with almost 200GB of data stolen from the company.
That's according to group behind the alleged attack, Mogilevich, as reported by Cyber Daily. Epic Games is yet to respond.
The hacked data allegedly includes "email, passwords, full name, payment information, source code and many other data" - though it's unclear if this refers to the details of Epic Games employees, customers, or both.
The ransomware group is, unsurprisingly, now trying to extort money for the data to be returned - or to bought by another party - with a deadline of 4th March.
The hackers are yet to post proof of the hack, but reportedly successfully targeted a subsidiary of car manufacturer Nissan last month.
A recent spate of ransomware attacks have seen a number of high-profile video game makers targeted. Most recently that included PlayStation's Spider-Man studio Insomniac, with employee details and development plans posted online when the company refused to pay.
In October last year, European police claimed to have "taken down" the gang of ransomware attackers responsible for 2020's high-profile Capcom hack, which also saw confidential employee information and details on upcoming games posted online.