Things keep getting worse for the Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher developer, CD Projekt Red, as hackers recently compromised the Polish developer.
According to the hackers who committed the act, company documentation, personal information, and source code for several games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Witcher 3, Gwent, were taken. The hackers are holding the property as ransom and are demanding that CDPR pay up. The company has made the details of this act public and has stated they will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the offenders.
Important Update pic.twitter.com/PCEuhAJosR
— CD PROJEKT RED (@CDPROJEKTRED) February 9, 2021
As a parting gift, the hackers had also encrypted CDPR’s servers, think of it as ransomware, but are now being restored from backups. Always back up your stuff, regardless of what it is. CD Projekt Red is already working with law enforcement and other agencies to investigate this unfortunate predicament.
The fact that the source code was stolen is troublesome. Yes, CDPR operates GOG, a DRM-free online store, but it goes deeper than that. Providing access to source code can allow someone/s the ability to replicate work that CDPR has done. It is pretty much the keys to the kingdom, a digital blueprint that could be used to create a game from CDPR’s past efforts.
This is nasty, and despite what you feel about CDPR, extortion and blackmail are wrong. You break into someone’s house, take their stuff, and then demand something before you’ll give it back? Not to mention threatening to release the info if you don’t get your way? That stuff doesn’t belong to you, and it shows that whoever committed this is either looking for their 15-minutes of fame and don’t care as to who they hurt in doing so. This will damage the company, but the upper management will be spared. If the company does go belly up (not that I think it will), the developers, sound engineers, artists, and everyone else that works on these games will be the ones affected.
The Outerhaven will continue to follow this story.
