58m rocked by Ubisoft hack attack

The video games publisher behind the likes of Assassin’s Creed, Rayman and Splinter Cell has been hit by a major online breach, with up to 58 million user names, email addresses, and encrypted passwords being compromised.
Ubisoft is urging customers to change their passwords, although it claims financial data has not been affected.
It is claimed Ubisoft users are particularly at risk as many of its most popular games now require an online account and a nearly always-on Internet connection. There were persistent reports of users getting their accounts hijacked earlier this year.
The company said in a statement: “We are recommending you to change your password. Out of an abundance of caution, we also recommend that you change your password on any other Web site or service where you use the same or a similar password.”
Ubisoft has set up a page to allow for a quick password reset for the Uplay accounts, although some members on its forums have taken the opportunity to blast the firm’s security measures.
“I’m sick of incompetent people holding onto any amount of my data,” said one irate user. “I’m sick of them not being held accountable for their incompetence. I’m sick of them passing the buck onto other parties when securing these sorts of things should be routine to anyone responsible for a system like this. Especially at an organisation as large as Ubisoft.”
Earlier this year, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was fined £250,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office after its PlayStation Network suffered one of the world’s biggest hack attacks, back in 2011. The breach affected upwards of 100 million customers.