Cyberpunk 2077 video game developer hit by hack attack

Polish video game maker CD Projekt RED, the company behind The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077, said Tuesday hackers had stolen data in a “targeted cyber attack”.

“An unidentified actor gained unauthorized access to our internal network, collected certain data belonging to CD PROJEKT capital group, and left a ransom note,” the company said on Twitter.

The game developer said the incident happened on Monday and it had contacted the police.

CD Projekt published a copy of the ransom note in which the hackers claimed to have stolen the source codes for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 as well as internal administrative documents.

“If we will not come to an agreement, then your source codes will be sold or leaked online,” it read, giving the company 48 hours to respond.

“Investors will lose trust in your company and the stock will dive even lower.”

CD Projekt’s shares were down 5.2 percent on the Warsaw stock exchange at around 0900 GMT.

The company’s stock has taken a beating after a series of problems surrounding the release of the much-hyped Cyberpunk 2077 in December.

The shares rose again last month after tech billionaire Elon Musk praised its design.

The company said it would not “give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor” even though it was aware that data could be released.

“We are taking necessary steps to mitigate the consequences of such a release,” it said.

“At this time we can confirm that—to our best knowledge—the compromised systems did not contain any personal data of our players or users of our services.”

© 2021 AFP