Hacking of Maple Story could leave 13 million gamers in danger

Up to 13 million gamers can be put in danger after Nexon confirmed that names, usernames, encrypted resident registration numbers and passwords were hacked.

A statement (translated from Korean to English) said that the incident occurred on 24November and it had informed law enforcement agencies to analyze immediately. The knowledge loss only affected players of the web role-playing game Maple Story; owner Nexon said Maple Story is "completely independent of the service".

A Nexon official told Reuters that the leaked data didn't include information on financial transactions or checking account numbers and failed to affect overseas subscribers of the web game.

The company has asked game subscribers to alter passwords to forestall additional damage, although the leaked resident registration numbers and passwords were encrypted. It confirmed that the full subscription membership of Maple Story is ready 18 million.

It said: “Unlawful invasion of privacy in an accident Maple Story Customer's personal information was stolen and detrimental to the purpose to fret, we apologise sincerely.”

Paul Ducklin, head of technology for Asia Pacific at Sophos, said: “It appears that only details about South Korean game users was exposed, but if you think about that South Korea has a complete population of 49 million people, you get a feel for just how significant a haul of the main points of 13 million of them may be.

“A spokesman for the KCC is reported in the Korea Times as saying that there'll be a radical investigation into whether Nexon was negligent with its customers' private information.

“The hack comes with spectacularly bad timing for Nexon, that's planning an IPO. According to VentureBeat, the corporate acknowledges that probably the most risks it faces is certainly one of hacking. How very prescient of them.”