Hacker Tries, Fails to Extort $100K From E-Sports Site

Information for 1.5M Esports Entertainment Association users leaked
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 10, 2017 3:57 PM CST
Hacker Releases Info of 1.5M E-Sports Players, Fans
Players cheer as their team wins a 2007 e-sports championship in Seattle. This week, a hacker released the information of more than 1.5 million Esports Entertainment Association users.   (AP Photo/Marcus R. Donner, World Cyber Games)

A hacker has released the information of more than 1.5 million e-sports players and fans following a failed extortion attempt, Mashable reports. According to PC Gamer, the Esports Entertainment Association was hacked sometime over Christmas. The hacker then threatened to release users' information unless ESEA paid them $100,000. ESEA flatly refused, stating, "We do not give into extortion and ransom demands."

True to their word, the hacker over the weekend released users' information, including email addresses, usernames, passwords, security question answers, private messages, IP addresses, phone numbers, birth dates, names, and more. ESEA says it's already fixed the security problem exploited by the hacker and that stolen passwords are still encrypted and should be hard to crack. "We apologize for the incident that has taken place as it is our responsibility to do everything possible to secure the data of our users," the competitive gaming site states. (More e-sports stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X