Capcom quietly discloses cyberattack impacting email, file servers

Update 14.46pm GMT: ZDNet has learned that the security incident may be due to a Ragnar Locker ransomware infection. 

Capcom has disclosed a cyberattack that impacted the company's operations over the weekend. 

The Osaka, Japan-based video game developer said in a notice dated November 4 that two days prior, beginning in the early morning, "some of the Capcom Group networks experienced issues that affected access to certain systems" due to a cyberattack. 

Email and file servers were impacted. 

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Capcom has described the attack as "unauthorized access" conducted by a third-party. As the security incident took place, the company stopped some operations on its internal networks, likely to prevent the cyberattack from spreading further and potentially compromising additional corporate resources. 

Capcom claims that there is "no indication" that customer information has been accessed or compromised; at least, at this stage. 

"This incident has not affected connections for playing the company's games online or access to its various websites," the company said. "Capcom expressed its deepest regret for any inconvenience this may cause to its various stakeholders."

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At the time of writing, Capcom says it is "unable to reply to inquiries and/or to fulfill requests for documents" made through the investor relations contact form.

The game developer is currently working toward restoring its systems and has reported the cyberattack to law enforcement. 

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Capcom has not revealed any further details relating to the attack, but the company is not the only game developer targeted this year. In October, Ubisoft and Crytek were the victims of the Egregor ransomware gang, which attempted to extort a ransomware payment from the firms on the threat of the public release of proprietary data stolen during attacks. 

Egregor is an active ransomware group believed to be responsible for cyberattacks against GEFCO and Barnes & Noble. Researchers from Malwarebytes suspect that past affiliates of the Maze ransomware group -- now retired from the scene -- are now turning to Egregor as an alternative. 

Update 14.46pm GMT: ZDNet has learned that the security incident may be due to a Ragnar Locker ransomware infection. Ragnar Locker, associated with an attack on energy company EDP in July, is a ransomware variant of which some operators deploy in virtual machines (VMs) to avoid detection. The ransomware is generally used against corporate targets. 

ZDNet has sent Capcom a request for comment and will update if we hear back. 

Previous and related coverage

• Toy maker Mattel discloses ransomware attack
  
• Today's 'mega' data breaches now cost companies $392 million to recover from
  
• 23,600 hacked databases have leaked from a defunct 'data breach index' site
  

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