Hackers steal Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 source codes - CD Projekt Red says they won't negotiate

Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Projekt Red has been hit by a cyber attack, confirming in a statement that an unidentified actor had managed to penetrate its digital vault and make off with the source code for some of its games. Adding salt to the wound, the hacker is also holding the Witcher 3, Gwent, and Cyberpunk 2077 source code to ransom, claiming that the code and sensitive documents will be sent to gaming journalists so that CDPR’s inner workings can be revealed. To emphasise just how serious they are, the hackers signed off with “”Your have been EPICALLY pwned ! !”.

CDPR’s response? No negotiations, no surrender. “Yesterday , we discovered that we have become a victim of a targeted cyber attack, due to which some of our internal systems have been compromised, CDPR tweeted in a statement.

"The hacker’s note threatens to release source code for Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 3 (including an unreleased version), and Gwent, as well as release company documents “relating to accounting, administration, legal, HR, investor relations, and more. We will not give into the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of compromised data.

We have already approached the relevant authorities, including law enforcement and the President of the Personal Data Protection Office, as well as IT forensic specialists, and we will closely cooperate with them in order to fully investigate the incident."

The good news is that CDPR doesn’t believe that any personal data from players was captured in the attack, but it has reached out to former employees and asked them to reset their security features just to be safe. This isn’t the first time that hackers have targeted gaming companies specifically, as last year saw Capcom hit in an attack that saw over a terabyte of sensitive data compromised.

CDPR has also had a bit of a tough time as of late in the aftermath of the Cyberpunk 2077 release which was…less than good. Still, that flub of a launch isn’t as embarrassing as anyone who uses the phrase “epically pwned” in 2021.

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