A website that provides information about cybersecurity incidents has revealed that more than 100,000 email addresses were exposed by a Grand Theft Auto modder in October 2022. This marks the second data breach in the same time frame as GTA 6, which was published online in 2022.
In September 2022, YouTube posted several clips of GTA 6, which were leaked after Rockstar Games was allegedly compromised. The content has been removed but fans were still served footage from an unfinished Rockstar Games title. Take Two’s CEO called GTA6 the “emotional”, where the executive claimed that the incident could affect the business in the future. This incident is not the first GTA-related security event that occurred in the past year.
One of the most recent entries to Have I Been Pwned states that about 101,000 Mod Menu provider RealDudesInc emails were hacked in October 2022. The site claims that these addresses were temporary guest mails, but the leaked data contains usernames as well as crypt passwords. Additionally, Have I been Pwned claims that 16% was already on the site? This would suggest that some of these account details were likely to have been compromised by previous data breaches.
It is worth noting, however, that GTA wasn’t the only gaming company to have been affected by cybersecurity breaches. Ubisoft experienced a security breach that affected its games and certain services in early 2022. It appears that no data was leaked during this incident. A data breach was also reported by GameStop in November of that year. The company denied that any such breach had occurred.
The October incident was not related to a third party, but the fact that the GTA Franchise and its fanbase were subject to data breaches on two separate occasions over two months doesn’t bode well. The community’s impact on this particular breach is unknown at this time, particularly given the active participation in GTA modders. The expectations of fans regarding the next installments of the GTA will remain high. However, the future of the popular franchise will only be known when it happens.