Elden Ring developer FromSoftware's parent company, Kadokawa Group, became the latest victim of a large-scale ransomware attack across all of its subsidiaries.
In a news release on Thursday, Kadokawa Group disclosed that a "significant cyberattack" was recorded on the company's Niconico platform and other related services, following a system outage on June 8.
All of Niconico's online services have been suspended while the company is working with external groups to investigate the full scale of the cyberattack.
Kadokawa is one of the biggest media corporations in Japan, handling multiple businesses across the entertainment, news, and gaming industries.
Among those affected by the cyberattack are its several anime production subsidiaries, manga publications, Anime News Network, streaming sites like Niconico, and Elden Ring developer studio FromSoftware.
BlackSuit Claims Responsibility Over Kadokawa Ransomware Attack
Shortly after Kadokawa's news release, ransomware group BlackSuit claimed responsibility for the attack, Bleeping Computer reported.
The group is claiming to have accessed over 1.5TB of company data, including employees' personal details, contracts, legal papers, and platform users' "related data."
BlackSuit threatens to release all stolen data to the public if its ransom demand has not been met before July 1.
This is the same criminal group responsible for the previous two cyberattacks on CDK Global last week, crippling over 15,000 car dealerships across North America.
Entertainment, Gaming Companies Became Common Targets for Cyberattack
The attack on Kadokawa Group follows the growing trend of ransomware operations targeting major entertainment and gaming companies following a major success.
Insomniac Games, developers of Marvel's Spider-Man, fell victim to a ransomware attack that led to many of the company's data and employee files leaked to the public last year.
Insomniac has since worked with its parent company Sony, another Japanese corporation, to resolve the "extremely distressing situation, while advising its customers to not access all leaked data for risk of being exposed to the hackers.
