Hot on the heels of recent security breaches at LinkedIn and eHarmony, comes word from League of Legends maker Riot Games that their EU servers (split into two separate servers: EU West and EU Nordic and East) were hacked, and the personal information of some of their players stolen. Player data on the North American server was unaffected.
That information may have included user name and encrypted password, e-mail address, encrypted security question and answer, and real name. Billing and credit card information were not compromised.
Riot quickly issued a security alert to all of their EU players through updates on their Web site, through e-mail, and through the League of Legends game client itself, informing them of the situation and encouraging them to immediately change their passwords. While the stolen password data was encrypted, Riot stated that more than half the passwords in their database were simple enough that they could be easily cracked.
In a posting on their Web site, they confirmed that a weakness in their security had been exploited by hackers, which led to the theft of data from their databases. They have since fixed the security hole, and have promised to work with authorities and security experts to fully understand how it happened, and to prevent it from occurring again in the future.
"We take your privacy and security seriously, and we're working diligently to improve it for the better" said Riot Games co-founder Mark Merrill in the security alert posted to the League of Legends Web site.
The DOTA-inspired action-RTS League of Legends is currently one of the most popular online games in the world, with over 35 million registered users, and more than half a million players daily. It is also one of the crown jewels of the competitive gaming scene, being featured in numerous tournaments and events worldwide featuring large cash prizes. Riot themselves put up $5 million in prizes for the various events taking place throughout Season 2 of League of Legends. It is also one of the games currently being contested at Major League Gaming's Spring Championships in Anaheim.
