June 10 (UPI) -- Hackers breached the systems of Electronic Arts, one of the world's largest video game publishers, and stole important data including source code and other internal tools, the company said Thursday.
The hack was first reported by Vice, which reviewed posts on underground hacking forums where hackers said they had 780gb of EA's data and were advertising it for sale.
"You have full capability of exploiting on all EA services," the hackers said.
In the forum posts, the hackers said they had taken the source code for EA's soccer game FIFA 21 and the code for its online matchmaking server, the source code and tools for the company's proprietary Frostbite engine, and proprietary frameworks and software development kits, Vice reported.
An EA representative said the company was aware of the hack and that player data was not affected.
"We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen," the representative said. "No player data was accessed and we have no reason to believe there is any risk to player privacy. Following the incident, we've already made security improvements and do not expect an impact on our games or our business. We are actively working with law enforcement officials and other experts as part of this ongoing criminal investigation."
The representative also said it was not a ransomware attack, in which hackers encrypt a company's data and attempt to force them to pay a ransom to unlock it.
The EA hack comes after a pair of high-profile ransomware attacks on meat producer JBS and the Colonial Pipeline which provides 45% of the East Coast's fuel supply in which they paid $11 million and $4.4 million in ransoms respectively.