Reply To: OCU C)ISSO D Discussion Lesson 15
IST3100 Information Systems Security Officer
Week Four
Discussion #3
WK4 Breaching Discussion
Kevin Mehok
Hey Class,
Breaching is real, and I do think as future professional, we need to understand the mind of a hacker. In June of 2021 Hackers broke into the systems of Electronic Arts, one of the world’s biggest video game publishers, and stole source code used in company games (Vallinsky, 2021). The company made the announcement in June of 2021, which may or may not have shocked the world. I say this, sadly, we are like sitting ducks and we wait for the next digital breach.
As for EA, an online forum posts reviewed by CNN Business and vetted by an independent cybersecurity expert show that on June 6, hackers claimed to have obtained 780 gigabytes of data from EA, including source code for Frostbite, the game engine that powers games that include titles in the FIFA, Madden and Battlefield series (Vallinsky, 2021). In a digital era, to me, this should not be a surprise. The audience surrounding EA are tech savvy, and they are looking to gain ways in, and perform better in gaming sectors.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Brett Callow, a threat analyst at cybersecurity software maker Emsisoft, said losing control over source code could be problematic for EA’s business (Vallinsky, 2021). You think? Of course, it is. How could it not be?
“Source code could, theoretically, be copied by other developers or used to create hacks for games,” Callow said (Vallinsky, 2021). we has Security Professionals need to be in front of these attacks and be better prepared, and well informed.
An EA spokesperson said “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” (Vallinsky, 2021). The time spent and the value that needs to be reassured in these attacks destroy businesses.
This has been an awesome discussion.
God Bless,
Kevin
References:
Vallinsky, J. (2021) https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/26/tech/cyberattacks-security-breaches-june/index.html
