Hacker group threatens to launch Grand Theft Auto VI information in Rockstar Games assault | Games

Rockstar Games, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto, has been the goal of a cyberattack for the second time in three years. A hacker group known as ShinyHunters stated it might launch information stolen from the corporate if ransom calls for weren’t met.

ShinyHunters initially gave Rockstar a 14 April deadline to enter negotiations, having gained entry to firm servers operated by a 3rd celebration.

“Rockstar Games. Your … data was compromised … Pay or leak,” learn a put up from the group.

“This is a final warning to reach out by 14 Apr 2026 before we leak along with several annoying (digital) problems that’ll come your way. Make the right decision, don’t be the next headline.”

The group has beforehand claimed to have focused Microsoft, Cisco and Ticketmaster, amongst others.

Rockstar downplayed the influence of the hack in a press release, implying that no delicate participant information was concerned. “We can confirm that a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed in connection with a third-party data breach,” the corporate stated. “This incident has no impact on our organisation or our players.”

The ShinyHunters group is linked to the Com, a free affiliation of cybercriminals who’re largely native English language audio system aged from 16 to 25. The demand for cost directed at Rockstar was printed on the ShinyHunters leak web site, a typical a part of the net armoury deployed by teams the place hackers threaten to publish stolen information if they don’t obtain cost, sometimes in bitcoin.

“They are very similar in terms of their demographic to lots of other groups under the Com umbrella,” stated Aiden Sinnott, a precept risk researcher on the cybersecurity agency Sophos.

Last yr ShinyHunters reportedly accessed the search historical past and viewing habits of premium customers of Pornhub, one of many world’s hottest pornography web sites.

The Grand Theft Auto sequence is without doubt one of the best-known and bestselling online game sequence, infamous for his or her satirical misanthropy in addition to their wild recognition. The open-world crime video video games are made in Edinburgh at Rockstar North, and are among the many highest-grossing video games on the earth – making them one among Britain’s largest cultural exports. Grand Theft Auto V and its multiplayer mode Grand Theft Auto Online have made greater than $8bn since its launch in 2013, in accordance with firm earnings experiences.

This shouldn’t be the primary critical breach that Rockstar Games has suffered in recent times. In 2022, 90 minutes’ value of in-development footage from Grand Theft Auto VI was posted on GTAForums, after a youngster from the Lapsus$ hacking collective breached Rockstar’s inner Slack channel.

The particular person accountable, Arion Kurtaj, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order in 2023. Rockstar claimed that $5m and 1000’s of hours of employees time had been spent on restoration from the incident.

It has been estimated that prices for Grand Theft Auto VI, which has been in improvement for almost 10 years, could possibly be near $2bn. Information in regards to the forthcoming sport may be very tightly managed, making any breach a critical challenge for Rockstar and it’s dad or mum firm Take-Two Interactive. The sport was initially slated for Autumn 2025, and was delayed till 19 November this yr.