Insomniac Games, the studio well-known for its Marvel: Spider-Man games, was hacked last week by ransomware group Rhysida. The group had initially threatened to release a massive figure of data if a ransom was not paid, and they followed through on that threat. Approximately 1.6 terabytes of data from Insomniac Games was revealed in the hack, including information about employees and upcoming video game projects.
The leaked information is about 1.3 million files, or 98% of the total hack size. The remaining 2% of the files were handed over to sellers over on the dark web, according to Rhysida.
The information hacked seems to have spanned across HR and Slack messages, passport information, Zoom conference materials, employment documents and information, and individual employee PC contents. It is one of the largest breaches of information in the gaming industry.
Information regarding future, upcoming games from Insomniac has also been leaked, including collaborations. A decent chunk of this information comes from Insomniac’s already-announced Wolverine game, including the plot outline, development footage, and the voice acting cast with spoilers being released through this, of course.
What is Rhysida?
Rhysida is an organization that spawned off a criminal operation named Gold Victor, which were established in 2021. The group has targeted institutions across the world, including the British Library and government institutions in Portugal, Kuwait, and Chile. Rhysida has also targeted the US hospital group Prospect Medical Holdings.
When the initial announcement from Rhysida was made regarding the Insomniac hack, Sony commented that they were investigating and that they had “no reason to believe that any other SIE or Sony divisions have been impacted.”
The Insomniac Games hack isn’t the first time a video game company has been targeted by a hack in recent memory. Not too long ago, Rockstar Games was hacked, revealing tons of information about GTA 6. Riot Games was also hacked in 2023. 2K was hacked, and player data was stolen and put up for sale in 2022. Such events also seem to be getting more and more frequent as individuals with hacking skills have gotten better as technology has advanced.
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Zainah Yousef
Zainah Yousef is the author of The Fallen Age Saga and specializes in gaming, social media advice, and reviews. She's been writing all her life and she probably won't stop anytime soon.
