[BreachExchange] EA discloses massive data breach affecting thousands of competitive FIFA players

[Destry Winant]

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/ea-fifa-data-breach/

Earlier today, EA officially opened up registrations for the FIFA 20
Global Series, with many individuals registering to participate in the
upcoming competition. As per usual with registering for anything,
personal information was required to sign up. Unfortunately, while
filling out a registration form, several players saw personal
information, including usernames and dates of birth that were not
theirs.

Of the many FIFA competitors affected by the breach are Kurt Fenech
and George Hughs, both of whom took to social media to share their
stories of how they were asked to confirm personal details that were
not their own.

EA was quick to make several public announcements on both its official
website as well on the official EA Sports FIFA Twitter account to
provide transparency and warnings to potential registrants. “At
approximately 1 p.m. U.K. Time, we announced the registration portal
page for the EA Sports FIFA 20 Global Series. Shortly after, we
learned that some players trying to register were seeing the
information of other players,” the company stated.’

According to EA, the data breach compromised the personal data of
approximately 1,600 players who had previously registered for the 2020
FIFA Global Series. “We’ve determined that approximately 1,600 players
were potentially affected by this issue, and we are taking steps to
contact those competitors with more details and protect their EA
accounts.”

Thankfully, the issue has been addressed and the registration page was
temporarily taken down with the company assuring players that this
will not happen again. As for those who have been affected by the
situation, EA is working vigorously to help protect their
accounts.”Player privacy and security are of the utmost importance to
us, and we deeply apologize that our players encountered this issue
today.”

As far as registrations go, EA intends to re-open registration “in the
coming days,” with the company promising to make a public announcement
on Twitter.

The FIFA Global Series (also known as the FIFA eWorld Cup) is an
esports tournament held by FIFA with EA’s subsidiary EA Sports serving
as a presenting partner.