Hackers say they’ve stolen FIFA and Frostbite source code in EA breach

A group of hackers has said they’ve broken into The Sims 4 and FIFA publisher Electronic Arts’ internal systems, according to a report from Vice. Hackers reportedly stole FIFA 21 source code — for the game and its matchmaking components — as well as source code for EA’s Frostbite engine.

A total of 780 GB of data stolen was stolen, Vice reported, including “proprietary EA frameworks and software development kits.” Hackers provided Vice with documents reportedly stolen in the hack, with information on PlayStation VR and other development tools.

“We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen,” an EA representative told Vice. “No player data was accessed, and we have no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy. Following the incident, we’ve already made security improvements and do not expect an impact on our games or our business. We are actively working with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of this ongoing criminal investigation.”

Hackers reportedly accessed EA’s internal systems through workplace chat platform Slack, which plenty of companies use for online communication. The hackers told Vice they obtained access to an EA Slack channel using “stolen cookies” sold online for $10. (Cookies can be used to access login details.)

The hackers said they contacted an EA IT support person via Slack for a “multifactor authentication token” — claiming they’d lost their phone — to login to EA’s network. The hackers provided Vice with screenshots of the steps taken in accessing the information; Vice later confirmed the details of the hack with EA.

Contents of the hack have not been released online, at least just yet. Vice reported that the hackers are looking to sell the data.

EA has not responded to Polygon’s request for more information.