EA under fire after leaking personal info of FIFA players and personalities [UPDATED]
FIFAElectronic Arts have come under fire for accidentally leaking the personal information of thousands of FIFA players, pros and streamers.
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UPDATE: Oct 3 at 10:25 PST
EA has responded to the “potential issue” affecting their registration page, and has taken down the site while they investigate the cause of the problem.
We're aware of a potential issue affecting the registration page for the EA SPORTS FIFA 20 Global Series that went live earlier today. We take these matters seriously, and we immediately took down the page while we investigate the matter. We'll share updates as soon as possible.
— EA SPORTS FIFA (@EASPORTSFIFA) October 3, 2019
While the company looks into the matter, they asked for the community to report any “potential security issues in EA’s games and services to secure@ea.com.
Original story as follows…
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On Thursday, October 3, EA Sports announced this season’s FIFA Global Series – the competitive circuit that leads players to the FIFA eWorld Cup. A link was provided to allow players to register for qualification, and this is where the problems started.
Before long, it became clear that EA was having some serious issues with registration, as players found they were already being provided with login information – and not their own.
The FIFA Global Series is the biggest circuit on the FIFA esports calendarAs evidenced in the tweet below, when players tried to register on the site, they were instead given registration information of players who had already registered – including some notable names in the community.
“My friend got a big pull in the Data Breach pack, Hashtag’s own Algerian Arrow, @YaniOurabah. We’ll send you a birthday card. What a mess.”
My friend got a big pull in the Data Breach pack, Hashtag's own Algerian Arrow, @YaniOurabah.
We'll send you a birthday card.
What a mess. pic.twitter.com/IYMT1ieq4g
— George Hughes (@GeorgeHughes) October 3, 2019
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A number of high profile pros and community members were affected by the leak, including professional FIFA player for Ajax, Joey ‘Joey’ Calabro. Coincidentally, his details were allegedly shown to fellow pro Bruno, a Brazilian player who represents SPQR.
It appears registration is no longer available on the website, as EA is working to address the issue.
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A number of notable players and personalities spoke out about the issue, dismayed that it could even happen. Kurt “Kurt0411” Fenech was very direct in his feelings about EA and the accident.
I am suing
— Kurt (@Kurt0411Fifa) October 3, 2019
Meanwhile, FIFA YouTuber Reev simply said “Yikes” before making a joke of the situation, saying it was “probably Jeff on live chat who came up with the idea to leak everyone’s details”.
Big yikes from EA.
I bet it was Jeff on live chat who came up with the idea to leak everyone's details. He's already given imposters my details once or twice before.
— Reev (@TheReevHD) October 3, 2019
EA has had a strained relationship with its consumers in recent years – most notably with the release of Star Wars Battlefront II, in which they managed to write the most downvoted comment in Reddit history when addressing microtransactions and the difficulty of unlocking certain characters.
Hopefully, this issue will be sorted quickly and measures will be taken to prevent another data breach occurring in the future.
