At this point, it would probably be newsworthy if we experienced a 24-hour period without a hack of a government or gaming Web site, but that day is not today. The networks for Bethesda Softworks and Epic Games have both come under attack in recent days.
Nintendo's UK site, meanwhile, is warning its European users of possible phishing scams, while hackers have exposed the details of about 25,000 users of a porn site.
In a Monday blog post, Bethesda Softworks, which produces first-person shooter "Prey," said a hacker group "attempted an unlawful intrusion of our Web sites to gain access to data" over the weekend. While they did not steal financial or credit card data, Bethesda believes the hackers may have accessed usernames, email addresses, and/or passwords.
"As a precaution, we recommend that all our fans immediately change passwords on all our sites—including our community forums and the statistics site we maintain for Brink players," Bethesda said.
If your Bethesda password is used across other sites, the company suggested you change your log-in there as well, and be on the lookout for phishing scams.
"These attacks will be evaluated to determine if there are any additional protections we might take that would be prudent," Bethesda said.
Hacker group LulzSec, which also compromised the systems of Sony, Nintendo, and others, took credit for the Bethesda hack.
"We're going to release lots of Bethesda/ZeniMax data today—however we might not release their 200,000+ users as we love Call of Cthulhu," the group tweeted. "Bethesda, we broke into your site over two months ago. We've had all of your Brink users for weeks. Please fix your junk, thanks!"
LulzSec did not mention Epic Games, which also had its Web sites and forums hacked. The intruders gained access to email addresses and encrypted passwords, though plain text passwords were not revealed. As a result, Epic reset all passwords.
"The Unreal Developer Network (UDN) has not been compromised. None of our web sites ask for, or store, credit card information or other sensitive customer data," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement.
It's unclear, meanwhile, if LulzSec's previous hack of Nintendo's system prompted the phishing warning currently displayed on nintendo.co.uk.
Users accessing the site are met with a warning that says "European Nintendo website phishing possibility." Nintendo said it learned of a "possible phishing threat," to its European site, so it has shut down some parts of its Web site until further notice.
"We would like to reassure you that we do not hold our customer's bank, credit card or address details on the European Nintendo website and so this data is not at risk," the notice said.
LulzSec did, however, release login passwords for almost 26,000 users of an x-rated porn Web site.
"The hackers compromised the database of the hardcore website (called 'Pron'), exposing not only the email addresses and passwords of over 25,000 members but also the credentials of 55 administrators of other adult websites," Sophos' Graham Cluley wrote in a blog post.
LulzSec highlighted the various .mil and .gov email addresses that were included on the list, and called on its users to log into peoples' Facebook accounts and tell friends and family about their porn habits.
"It should go without saying that logging into someone else's account without their permission is against the law in most countries around the world," Cluley wrote. "Fortunately, it's reported that Facebook's security team responded quickly to the threat—and reset the passwords for all of the accounts it had which matched the email addresses exposed."