ESEA hacked, leaking 1.5 million gamers' records

A processor with a red cloud broken in two with a word beneath: &#039;BREACH!&#039;

The personal details of more than 1.5 million E-Sports Entertainment Association (ESEA) members have been stolen following a hack in December.

Information such as registration date, city, state (or province), last login, username, first and last name, bcrypt hash, email address, date of birth, zip code, phone number, website URL, Steam ID, Xbox ID, and PSN ID may have been obtained by the hackers according to breach notification service LeakedSource.

The organisation told its users about the hack shortly after it happened and then reminded them on 30 December before releasing a statement the day after LeakedSource announced the data had been stolen.

"Recently news has been made that ESEA's user data has been leaked online," ESEA said. "We expected something like this could happen but have not confirmed this is ESEA's data. We notified the community on December 30th, 2016 about the possibility this could happen. The type of data and storage standards was disclosed."

The security breach was part of a ransomware attack, according to LeakedSource. The hacker reportedly asked for $50,000 in payment and in exchange, they would help ESEA patch the vulnerability it used to break into the association's systems.

ESEA has not revealed whether it gave in and paid the hackers or just reset user passwords, multi-factor authentication tokens and security questions to protect their users' identities.

"We have been working around the clock to further fortify security and will bring our website online shortly when that next round is complete," the organisation said, adding, "this possible user data leak is not connected to the current service outage."

How to beat ransomware Ransomware increases by 172% in H1 2016

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.