A new hacker group named ShinyHunters has announced that it has breached Rockstar Games and is demanding that the developer pay a ransom by April 14, or the stolen data will be leaked to the public. The group has added Rockstar Games to its dark web leak site. The group claims it gained access to the studio via Anodot, a SaaS cloud cost-monitoring platform used by Rockstar. According to the group, the breach exposed financial data, employee contracts, marketing timelines, and more. If confirmed, this would be the second time the studio has been hacked. In 2022, a hacker breached Rockstar and leaked over 90 videos of early development footage.
In a Bloomberg report, last year, a spokesperson said some employees were “distributing and discussing confidential information in a public forum.” This would mean the employees may have been found to be leaking information about the company’s upcoming title Grand Theft Auto 6. The spokesperson also addressed claims that firing those employees were due to union busting. “This was in no way related to people’s right to join a union or engage in union activities,” they added.
Earlier this year, an explosion occurred at Rockstar North in Edinburgh. A representative told the outlet that authorities were alerted at 5:02 a.m. GMT. Emergency crews later confirmed that there were no casualties before leaving the scene at 9:21 a.m. “Operations Control mobilized three fire appliances and specialist resources to the scene, where firefighters worked to secure structural damage at a commercial building,” said a spokesperson for SFRS. A report from Edinburgh Live claims the fire originated in the boiler room.