Cyberpunk 2077 developers hit with massive breach — what you need to know

Cyberpunk 2077 developers hit with massive breach — what y'all need to know

(Image credit: CD Projekt Cherry)

It'south been a rough few months for Cyberpunk 2077 and its developer, CD Projekt Red. Cyberpunk 2077 launching in a rough state was just the beginning of the story. Subsequently that, the company had to contend with angry fans, falling stock prices, litigious investors and patches that sometimes made the game even worse.

On top of all that, CD Projekt Red must now deal with disgruntled hackers, who accept breached company servers, installed ransomware and threatened to share all of their information online.

Information comes from CD Projekt Red, which presumably wanted to go word out to fans before the hackers did. On Twitter, the company posted a detailed caption of the situation, as well as the hacker's (poorly written) ransom note.

Check out our Cyberpunk 2077 review
Play the best PC games
Try our Cyberpunk 2077 tips
New: Beware links to Discord's website — it could be malware

"An unidentified histrion gained unauthorized access to our internal network, nerveless certain data belonging to CD Projekt capital grouping, and left a ransom note the content of which we release to the public," the company stated. "We will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data."

It may sound bad, simply there are 2 saving graces. First, installing ransomware did not have the devastating event the hacker might have hoped it would. CD Projekt'south backup drives remained unaffected, so if in that location was whatsoever data loss, it sounds like the company kept information technology to an accented minimum.

Second, CD Projekt assured fans that "the compromised systems did not comprise any personal data of our players or users of our services."

That'south good news, even for gamers who didn't buy Cyberpunk 2077. Remember that CD Projekt also runs the GOG game store platform too every bit the GOG Milky way launcher service.

As for the note itself, the hacker claims to accept full copies of the source code for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher iii and Gwent (the standalone card game based on The Witcher). They also claim to have "documents relating to accounting, assistants, legal, HR, investor relations and more than," which may exist the bigger deal.

While distributing a game's source lawmaking could make a title easier to pirate, you can't really change and sell it, and zippo in it would be very interesting to a lay audience.

The concern documents, on the other hand, the hacker threatened to "[transport] to our contacts in gaming journalism," where perhaps they hope some malfeasance volition come to light. It'southward unlikely that a reputable journalist would accept stolen documents, merely we imagine that combing through them could be a field day for a more than tabloid-style publication.

In any case, the hacker has given CD Projekt 48 hours to respond — and since CD Projekt has already responded, there'south nothing to practise now but wait. Hacking major companies to share sensitive information with the public may be in the spirit of the cyberpunk genre, but the driving force hither seems to be malice rather than public interest.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of scientific discipline and applied science. Afterwards hours, you tin find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.