Well, they’ve done it. The hacker group that breached Sony subsidiary Insomniac Games on December 12, demanding $2 million for the terabytes of data it stole, has published almost all of it online now that Sony has refused to open its wallet. This unprecedented hack contains all kinds of internal documents about the Spider-Man 2 developer’s upcoming projects, including details on the Wolverine PS5 game.
At the time of the breach earlier this month, ransomware group Rhysida said it had access to personal data of current and former Insomniac employees, as well as character art and screenshots from Marvel’s Wolverine, the upcoming PlayStation 5 exclusive that the studio is presently working on. Rhysida gave Insomniac owner Sony seven days to pay up, but since the company didn’t, the group followed through on its threats and released the stolen data. And it’s bad.
So, What’s In Some Of The Files?
According to data floating around online and viewed by Kotaku, the files feature information on Wolverine’s release date, playable characters, and plot details, as well as animation and gameplay videos, design documents, and more. It’s a devastating hack, maybe worse than the massive Grand Theft Auto 6 breach from 2022. Allegedly, there’s even a bootable build of Wolverine in the files.
As reported by the Australian cybersecurity site CyberDaily, Rhysida said that only 98 percent of the 1.67 terabytes of data it stole (which contains more than 1.3 million files) has been uploaded. The remaining documents were sold, but it’s unclear who bought them. A spokesperson for the hacker group told the publication that Insomniac Games and Sony were the specific targets, claiming money was the only motive.
“Yes, we knew who we were attacking,” a Rhysida spokesperson told CyberDaily. “We knew that developers making games like this would be an easy target. We were able to get the domain administrator within 20–25 minutes of hacking the network. Sony has launched an investigation, but it would be better in the backyard.”
Kotaku reached out to Insomniac Games and Sony for comment.
Sony told VGC on December 12 that it was aware of the breach and was investigating the situation, and believed no other SIE divisions were impacted. While this isn’t the first time Sony’s been hacked this year, it’s certainly one of the biggest in recent memory.