The gaming company behind the Call of Duty franchise, Activision, dismissed reports of a data breach allegedly compromising half a million of CoD accounts.
An eSports website, Dexerto, reported a potential credential stuffing attack on Sunday, Sept. 20, claiming accounts have been leaked publicly. The report explicitly said around 500,000 Activision accounts were affected.
Other eSports-affiliated accounts reported a ‘suspected breach’, with Respawnable founder @Okami saying, “It’s legit” and players must change their account passwords immediately.
Another Twitter account @oRemyy vouched for the breach, citing the ‘cyber attack is worse than the notorious PS3 hacking’ in 2011. This account was suspended, however, it circulated in the platform, contributing to the fire to the widespread panic.
Activision immediately responds to the data breach claims and debunked the accusations. “Activision Call of Duty accounts have not been compromised. Reports suggesting otherwise are not accurate,” said the company on Twitter.
The gaming company also encourages players to protect their accounts at all times. Additionally, Activision recommends that players must act accordingly if they feel their accounts are at risk.
While the gaming company can deny the accusation, the gaming community is still in hot waters as other popular gamers are backing the breach issue. TheGameRevolution account on Twitter confirmed the hacking, stating that hackers are ‘generating 1,000 accounts every 10 minutes.’
These popular gamers reported the possible threat, however, none of their accounts were affected.
Account Safety
The cause of panic isn’t only because of the CoD accounts and other linked games, but the payment information of gamers as well. Since players can connect their credit and debit cards on the platform, their identities are at risk.
Activision specifically said players could connect to their support page for further help regarding account protection and password reset. The multi-factor authentication also helps to secure all transactions made using credit and debit cards.
For security experts, the circulating ‘breach’ could be a goldmine for further attacks. Malicious actors intend to capture information, targeting the gaming platform. Activision’s move to debunk the claims helps players to secure their accounts and at the same time, prepare for possible attacks.
KnowBe4 advocate Javvad Malik said that creating a gaming account online is easy but not everyone thought of the security risks involved. This issue serves as an eye-opener to those who easily provides personal and payment information on the web.