If you've ever been in the market for a high-end gaming controller, racing wheel, or pedals, chances are peripheral maker Fanatec was on your radar. Purchasing directly from Fanatec turned out to be a bad idea, though, as your personal details are probably in the hands of hackers.
As Kotaku reports, Fanatec CEO Thomas Jackermeier sent out an email yesterday to all customers informing them that, "our online shop of our company was compromised by a cyber-attack on 16.08.2019." The breach in security meant hackers gained access to the company's customer database and therefore the personal details of all customers.
As a precaution, Fanatic has reset all customer account passwords and the relevant authorities informed of the breach. With the personal details already out in the wild, there's little else that can be done other than trying to figure out who performed the hack and prosecuting them.
Unusually, Jackermeier requests in the email to customers that they keep the correspondence and news of the breach confidential. The reason given being it, "reduces the potential for the hacker to be aware of our official communication, and gives affected customers a better opportunity to [sic]can take the necessary steps to inform their credit card providers." This doesn't make much sense as the hacker knows the value of the information held and that inevitably there's a short space of time to use or sell it for financial gain.
Unfortunately, Fanatec did not share specifically what personal information was accessed, but the request for confidentiality suggests it included payment details and therefore we have to assume email and home address details, too.
If you are a Fanatec customer, be that recently or years ago, ensure if you used the same password on multiple sites that you change them as soon as possible. Also keep a close eye on your email, snail mail, and credit card statements for unusual activity and signs of identity theft. And of course, always run a good security suite on your computer.