Image: EA, via FIFA 20 Global Series website
Gaming company Electronic Arts (EA) has plugged a website glitch that has accidentally leaked the personal details of approximately 1,600 users who signed up on one of its websites.
The website was for EA’s FIFA 20 Global Series, a competitive tournament for the company’s recently launched FIFA 20 soccer-themed game.
The company launched the website yesterday, on October 3, and the glitch was spotted right away by players signing up for the upcoming competition.
Players reported seeing other people’s data when completing the registration process. Leaked data included player IDs, birthdays, email addresses, and country of origin, according to multiple screenshots posted online.
EA claimed it took down the website 30 minutes after its launch, by which point around 1,600 had already registered.
It is unclear if someone mass-harvested this information, but the company’s quick response might have prevented an attacker from doing so.
EA said it’s now contacting all players whose data was leaked.
“Player privacy and security are of the utmost importance to us, and we deeply apologize that our players encountered this issue today,” the company said in a statement published on Twitter.
However, some players are still mad at the company. Many argued that the leak of emails and player tags are an issue, as it would allow miscreants to tie a professional player with their real-world identity using information leaked on other sites, and which is freely available online.
Many said they now feared getting doxed or swatted as a result. Swatting is a comment phenomenon in the gaming scene, and has resulted in the death of at least one innocent man.
Credit: Zdnet
