Stalker 2 developer GSC Recreation World says that Russian hackers have gained entry to inner check builds of the upcoming FPS Stalker 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl, and have begun leaking the stolen materials to the general public.
“Our staff has recognized a vulnerability exploited by a gaggle of Russian hackers attacking the corporate for nearly a 12 months and a half,” the Ukrainian studio stated on Twitter. “Sadly, they have been capable of entry and compromise a few of our leaked info supposed for inner testing of assorted sport points.
“As for now, we kindly ask stalkers and those that wish to be part of the Zone sooner or later not to have a look at or share any leaked supplies from the sport. Though these supplies are solely used for testing functions and aren’t release-ready, these leaks could break your expertise of exploring the Zone by your self.”
GSC Recreation World did not say whether or not this assault is related to the one reported in March, when hackers threatened to make use of the information they’d taken “for blackmail and intimidation,” and there isn’t any option to verify whether or not the hackers are literally Russian.
However the timeline suits—in March, the studio stated it had been coping with “fixed cyberattacks” for greater than a 12 months, now “virtually a 12 months and a half”—and pictures and different recordsdata taken in the course of the hack have been shared by the identical account on the Russian social media platform VK.
It is also doable the VK account is just getting used as a distribution channel: One Google-translated message refers to “the contribution of our administrator to the unfold of this leak,” suggesting they weren’t truly answerable for making it occur. It additionally says “the Individuals have been the primary to seek out it,” whereas Daniil Nexus, the group administrator in query, was “one of many first” to run throughout it in that exact group, and introduced in another person to crack the stolen code.
The obvious discovery of a vulnerability being exploited by hackers hopefully means the opening is plugged, but when the hackers are certainly Russian, it isn’t prone to finish the assaults. As a Ukrainian studio, GSC Recreation World is a high-profile goal for Russian hackers and avid gamers, and there is unquestionably a political facet to it. In August 2022 a purportedly unreleased console port of the unique Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was leaked by an aggrieved Russian streamer sad about, amongst different issues, the studio raising money to assist practice and equip Ukrainian troopers combating towards the Russian invasion.