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."
-
RSAC Conference 2025: The front line of cyber innovationITPro Podcast Ransomware, quantum computing, and an unsurprising focus on AI were highlights of this year's event
-
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei thinks we're burying our heads in the sand on AI job lossesNews With AI set to hit entry-level jobs especially, some industry execs say clear warning signs are being ignored
-
LockBit data dump reveals a treasure trove of intel on the notorious hacker groupNews An analysis of May's SQL database dump shows how much LockBit was really making
-
‘I take pleasure in thinking I can rid society of at least some of them’: A cyber vigilante is dumping information on notorious ransomware criminals – and security experts say police will be keeping close tabsNews An anonymous whistleblower has released large amounts of data allegedly linked to the ransomware gangs
-
It's been a bad week for ransomware operatorsNews A host of ransomware strains have been neutralized, servers seized, and key players indicted
-
Everything we know about the Peter Green Chilled cyber attackNews A ransomware attack on the chilled food distributor highlights the supply chain risks within the retail sector
-
Scattered Spider: Who are the alleged hackers behind the M&S cyber attack?News The Scattered Spider group has been highly active in recent years
-
Ransomware attacks are rising — but quiet payouts could mean there's more than actually reported
News Ransomware attacks continue to climb, but they may be even higher than official figures show as companies choose to quietly pay to make such incidents go away.
-
Cleo attack victim list grows as Hertz confirms customer data stolen – and security experts say it won't be the lastNews Hertz has confirmed it suffered a data breach as a result of the Cleo zero-day vulnerability in late 2024, with the car rental giant warning that customer data was stolen.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackersNews Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
