Battlefield, FIFA source code up for sale on underground hacking forums

According to a report by Motherboard, the hackers posted on underground forums claiming that the code gives “full capability” to exploit EA services. They said they have stolen source code from FIFA 2021 and its matchmaking server, and a gaming engine called Frostbite, which is used to develop AAA titles like Battlefield.

“Proprietary source code getting leaked is definitely not good news. This is serious IP theft where hackers are able to harvest precious information in their hands; being able to see the inner workings of a game, exploit security gaps, and even reverse-engineer games for malicious purposes. Besides the loss of reputation from the leak and intellectual property loss, the impacted companies also suffer huge monetary loss both from investments made and future revenue,” said Prakash Bell, Head of Customer Success, Regional SE Lead, Check Point Software Technologies, India & SAARC.

The hackers said they have stolen as much as 780GB worth of data, which includes application programming interface (API) keys for FIFA 2022, and software development kits (SDKs) for Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The Frostbite engine powers game like Battlefield and Madden too, which means the hack could damage those titles as well. Both Battlefield and Madden are big money titles for EA.

Confirming the same, the video game company said it is investigating the hack, which led to a “limited amount of game source code and related tools” being stolen.

An EA spokesperson also said that no player data was compromised, and the company has “no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy”. “Following the incident, we’ve already made security improvements and do not expect any 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,” the company added.