The video game publishing house, Bandai Namco, confirms the recent hacking incident in their system.
Bandai Namco hack was reported to be an attack planned by a group of malicious actors named ALPHV, also popularly known to be the BlackCat ransomware gang.
The hack was carried out earlier this week and the hackers breach a substantial amount of confidential files from the company.
The publishing house is known for developing games such as Jump Force, Tales of Berseria, Tekken, Pac-Man, Eden Rings, Dark Souls, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and many more.
Bandai Namco Hack
Bandai Namco released a statement confirming the cyberattack from the ransomware gang. However, Bandai Namco has not disclosed any technical information regarding the hacking incident.
Although numerous enthusiasts and researchers suspect that the cyberattack to the video game company is not just a regular hacking incident, instead, a ransomware attack.
According to BleepingComputer, an entry was made to BlackCat's data leak site; however, BlackCat has not released any of Bandai Namco's allegedly stolen data as of this moment.
The company stated, "On July 3, 2022, Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. confirmed that it experienced an unauthorized access by third party to the internal systems of several Group companies in Asian regions (excluding Japan)."
Bandai Namco added, "there is a possibility that customer information related to the Toys and Hobby Business in Asian regions (excluding Japan) was included in the servers and PCs, and we are currently identifying the status about existence of leakage, scope of the damage, and investigating the cause."
Following the discovery of the unauthorized access, the publishing house instituted preventative measures, such as restricting user access to the servers, to halt the spread of the damage.
The company also assured the public that they will continue the investigation into what caused this incident, and when the time is right, the investigative findings will be shared to the public.
In addition, Bandai is now collaborating with external organizations to enhance the company's overall security and implement measures to prevent a similar incident from occurring again in the future.
BlackCat Ransomware
The BlackCat ransomware gang is also known to be the same group behind the threat groups that are also named as ALPHV and Noberus.
iTechPost previously reported that BlackCat is a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) group that has already breached 60 entities worldwide between November 2021 and March 2022.
The group was notorious for using and carrying out distinct and complex cyberattacks using Rust. Rust is a programming language that can be used on embedded devices, and it can also be combined with other languages to produce software that has a higher level of complexity.
The use of the Rust programming language is what differentiates BlackCat from other types of cyber ransomware.
Due to the sheer widespread exploitative activities carried out by the bad actors, the FBI has recently increased the amount of attention it pays to BlackCat.
The ransomware group just recently developed a specialized website with the intention of exerting pressure on its victims in order to coerce them into paying the ransom demanded by the group.
BlackCat has demanded ransom payments totaling multiple millions of dollars from a number of high-profile individuals that it has targeted.
In February, the organization issued a statement claiming responsibility for an attack that was carried out against Swissport, which is in the business of providing aviation services. In addition, it also breached other international companies like Oiltanking and Mabanaft.
