Minutes after the passing of its initially quoted ransom deadline on Dec. 18, infamous ransomware gang Rhysida dumped a heap of confidential data owned by Spiderman 2 dev Insomniac Games out on the internet, revealing the release windows of the studio’s most highly anticipated video games through to 2030.
As spotted in several Reddit posts, the release windows of Marvel’s Venom, Marvel’s Wolverine, Marvel’s Spider-Man 3, a new Ratchet & Clank title, and Marvel’s X-Men were leaked for anyone to see, alongside the fact that a new, unnamed Insomniac IP is being planned for release early next decade.
Not just the release windows, but the leak also revealed chunks of gameplay footage from the highly awaited Marvel’s Wolverine while giving out the list of cast. In addition to game data, it also published the personal data of several Insomniac employees and internal conversations via email and Slack within the company.
For those unaware, Rhysida first claimed having infiltrated through Insomniac’s domain administrator and stolen millions of files, including crucial information regarding upcoming games and personal information of employees, on Dec. 12, alerting that the studio had seven days before the entire data set was published. At the same time, the group had also put the data set up for sale, and anyone (including Sony and Insomniac) who was willing to participate in an auction with “a starting price of 50 bitcoins, or just over US$2 million” could grab it, as reported by Cyber Daily.
After these reports emerged a week ago, Insomniac’s parent company, Sony, also released a statement, saying it knew about the cyber attack and was investigating the situation. But Sony’s efforts weren’t enough to stop Rhysida from uploading all the data, just like it had threatened a week back.
Speaking to Cyber Daily, Rhysida said its only motive for hacking Insomniac and Sony was money and that it was specifically targeting the studio and publisher. As a reply to Sony investigating the matter, a Rhysida spokesperson said, “Sony has launched an investigation, but it would be better in the backyard.”
