Bohemia Interactive sent out word that DayZ's forums have been hacked. Not only that but usernames, e-mail addresses and passwords have been stolen by hackers. Bohemia Interactive has suggested for users to change their passwords ASAP as they switch to an all new board system to better protect users.
PC Gamer did a write-up on the forums being hacked, where Bohemia originally announced that outside forces had infiltrated the DayZ forums back in January 23rd, 2016; but it wasn't until recently did they understand the gravity and scope of the hack, realizing that more than just usernames were taken.
There's a tweet posted on the DayZ Twitter account where it explains that usernames, e-mail addresses and passwords have been accessed by hackers. They shared a message where part of it reads...
A security incident occurred on forums.dayzgame.ncom recently. According to our investigation all usernames, emails and passwords from forums.dayzgame.com were accessed and downloaded by hackers.While the passwords were not stored in plain text, but in a more secure form, it is highly recommended that if you have used the same password elsewhere you change it immediately on all applicable websites and services.
With that said, Bohemia quickly proceeded to take down the forums and the DayZ servers for an emergency maintenance.
Some users were a bit taken aback by this because they weren't able to change their passwords before Bohemia Interactive took down the DayZ forums for maintenance. This has resulted in some people feeling a bit panicked over the situation because they're unsure as to which password they used for the login information, and therefore they're unsure what shared passwords they may have used on another website.
It could definitely be a scary feeling, especially if there are any financial accounts attached to the username and password combination. Many users and Bohemia seriously suggested for users to change all the important passwords for services they use that may contain sensitive or important data.
DayZ has always been a ripe honey pot for hackers, but this is the first time that they've gone so far as to try to gain access to personal user data.
The game has always been more of a social experiment than a traditional game forcing players to have to adapt and learn how to survive in a dangerous open-world environment where zombies roam and bandits are always on the look out for easy victims. The difficulty of DayZ made it ripe for hackers to try to find ways to exploit the game in any way that they could. However, it's sad that they took it so far as to steal user information for nefarious means.
If you regularly play DayZ and use the game's forums, be sure to change your username and passwords on other forums and services as soon as possible.
