GAME OVER FOR YOUR INBOX? Capcom, the Japanese publisher behind Resident Evil, Monster Hunter and Street Fighter, says an outsider broke into its CAPCOM ID account system and got at 11,774,247 records worldwide, according to the company’s Oct. 22 notice.
What leaked: email addresses plus account details like when the account was created, the last login time, number of logins, and the IP address used at last login. A tiny slice, 43 records, also included date of birth, gender, country and nickname.
The scary part: someone changed the passwords on 196 accounts without permission. Capcom says it has reset those, hasn’t confirmed that any passwords customers set themselves were stolen, and says credit card info was not included. Games and services are still running, and Capcom plans to notify affected customers.
Why you should care even if you never touch Resident Evil: CAPCOM ID can be linked to your PlayStation, Xbox, Steam, Epic and Nintendo accounts, and Malwarebytes warns the leaked details could make fake “Capcom” emails much more convincing. Note the 11.7 million figure counts records, so it may not be that many individual people.
What to do: don’t click links in any “your account needs attention” email. Go to cid.capcom.com yourself, turn on CAPCOM ID’s two-factor authentication (Capcom recommends Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator), and check your linked platform accounts, especially if you got a password-change notice you didn’t ask for.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: Capcom, Malwarebytes
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