[BreachExchange] Fortnite security flaw exposed millions of users to being hacked

[Destry Winant]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fortnite-security-flaw-exposed-millions-of-users-to-being-hacked/

A security vulnerability in Fortnite, the online game with more than
200 million users, exposed players to being hacked and even secretly
recorded during play, a security research firm said.

The firm Check Point revealed Wednesday that it found flaws in the
game over the past few weeks. According to the report, hackers took
advantage of an unsecured webpage from 2004 created by Fortnite's
developer, Epic Games. They used the old webpage to send phishing
links to Fortnite users that appeared to be coming from Epic. If users
clicked the link, hackers could gain full access to their accounts
even without login information.

This vulnerability allowed cyber criminals to take over Fortnite
accounts, make purchases with the game's virtual currency and also
eavesdrop on and record chatter among players.

Check Point said it alerted Epic Games to the security slip, and the
company fixed them. The 2004 webpage used for the hack has been taken
down.

"We were made aware of the vulnerabilities and they were soon
addressed. We thank Check Point for bringing this to our attention,"
Epic Games said in a statement. "As always, we encourage players to
protect their accounts by not reusing passwords and using strong
passwords, and not sharing account information with others."

This is at least the second major security breach found in Fortnite in
the past year. In August, Google researchers discovered that Android
users could be tricked into installing a fake version of Fortnite.
Epic fixed the flaw.

Security researchers have warned that Fortnite is a big target for
attacks, since its explosive popularity makes it a social network in
its own right. The game was set to make $3 billion in profit by the
end of 2018.