Members of the World of Tanks community had a bit of a surprise waiting for them yesterday when they logged onto the internet to see reports telling them that they needed to change their passwords immediately.
According to the reports, PlaySpan, the system used for real money transactions in the game had been hacked and the account details of over two million accounts has been leaked online. These details include email addresses, user IDs and encrypted passwords. Credit card information doesn’t seem to be included in this information.
PlaySpan has shut down the Marketplace and locked user accounts until they have conducted an investigation. PlaySpan had the following to say regarding the hacks:
“When PlaySpan detected the breach, we immediately shut down the hacker’s access to our systems and took steps to protect our customers’ PlaySpan accounts. We then commenced a comprehensive forensic analysis and are working with law enforcement to investigate the crime.
“We sincerely apologize for any frustration or inconvenience this incident has caused our customers. We know PlaySpan’s business depends on consumer trust. Security is a top priority for us, and we are redoubling our efforts to strengthen PlaySpan’s overall system security.”
While World of Tanks players should be concerned, there was also a bit of incorrect information being spread about the hack saying that Guild Wars 2, EVE Online and Runescape players were at risk. According to replies from each of these companies, none of them are associated with PlaySpan and none share player information with third party companies.
However, if you happen to own an account for any of these games and use the same login information, I would advise changing it now.
