Stalker 2 developer GSC Recreation World says that Russian hackers have gained entry to inner check builds of the upcoming FPS Stalker 2: Coronary heart of Chornobyl, and have begun leaking the stolen materials to the general public.
“Our staff has recognized a vulnerability exploited by a bunch of Russian hackers attacking the corporate for nearly a yr and a half,” the Ukrainian studio mentioned on Twitter. “Sadly, they had been in a position to entry and compromise a few of our leaked info meant for inner testing of assorted recreation facets.
“As for now, we kindly ask stalkers and people who wish to be a part of the Zone sooner or later not to take a look at or share any leaked supplies from the sport. Though these supplies are solely used for testing functions and should not release-ready, these leaks could smash your expertise of exploring the Zone by your self.”
GSC Recreation World did not say whether or not this assault is linked to the one reported in March, when hackers threatened to make use of the info they’d taken “for blackmail and intimidation,” and there is not any solution to verify whether or not the hackers are literally Russian.
However the timeline matches—in March, the studio mentioned it had been coping with “fixed cyberattacks” for greater than a yr, now “nearly a yr and a half”—and pictures and different information taken in the course of the hack had been shared by the identical account on the Russian social media platform VK.
It is also attainable the VK account is barely getting used as a distribution channel: One Google-translated message refers to “the contribution of our administrator to the unfold of this leak,” suggesting they weren’t truly chargeable for making it occur. It additionally says “the People had been the primary to search out it,” whereas Daniil Nexus, the group administrator in query, was “one of many first” to run throughout it in that exact neighborhood, and introduced in another person to crack the stolen code.
The obvious discovery of a vulnerability being exploited by hackers hopefully means the outlet is plugged, but when the hackers are certainly Russian, it isn’t prone to finish the assaults. As a Ukrainian studio, GSC Recreation World is a high-profile goal for Russian hackers and avid gamers, and there is unquestionably a political facet to it. In August 2022 a purportedly unreleased console port of the unique Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl was leaked by an aggrieved Russian streamer sad about, amongst different issues, the studio raising money to assist prepare and equip Ukrainian troopers preventing in opposition to the Russian invasion.
