EVE Online Temporarily Suspends Service following Security Breach

The Website and the game servers of the well-known spaceship MMO EVE Online were unexpectedly shut down on October 19, 2007 following a security breach in its database that prompted developers of CCP to remove the plug.

In a recent statement, Chief Operating Officer of CCP Games, Jón Hörâdal, tried to explain what caused the sudden interruption in the Website and servers of EVE Online on October 19, 2007, and offered apologies for the broken communication during the period of interruption. CCP purposely brought down the service briefly so that it could set right the irregularity in the database of EVE Online that revealed a potential flaw. MMORPG published this in news on October 20, 2007.

To explain the move by CCP Games, Jón Hörâdal said that the online gamer thought that the best step would be to adopt caution and prevent players from using the servers and Website so that they remained protected. Meanwhile, the gaming company decided to conduct an intensive scan of its infrastructure and a thorough evaluation of the situation. Hörâdal also offered apologies to players of EVE Online for not apprising them with the reason behind shutting down the game's vital infrastructure. He said that a public disclosure of the incident would have acted against any effort to deal with the problem, especially at the time when CCP was still evaluating it.

Rumors appeared on the forums of EVE players that pointed at the victimization of a CCP administrator to a keyboard logger, software that remotely reads the keystrokes of a user. But CCP representatives have refuted them saying that the information was from someone trying to pose as a CCP staff.

While some apprehension emerged amongst users that the investigation might lead to withdrawal of the server, erasing records of players' progress since the detection of the exploit, Hörâdal explained that the data breach would cater advantage only to the hacker. The game service was brought to normal functioning without any change.

Hörâdal also confirmed that no personal information like users' credit card numbers or their credentials leaked out as a result of the incident.

Related article: eBay Announces Its New “Safeguarding Member IDs” Project

» SPAMfighter News - 11/8/2007