Fortnite facing lawsuit after reports of accounts being hacked

Olivia Richman Published 11/08/2019

Epic Games is facing a lawsuit over the developer’s alleged failure to address Fortnite accounts’ vulnerability after some were hacked.

Filed by Franklin D. Azar & Associates, the class-action lawsuit states that Fortnite users suffered “an ascertainable loss,” after hackers made fraudulent charges on their accounts.

According to the law firm, Epic Games had acknowledged a flaw in Fortnite’s login system that allowed hackers to easily impersonate players, resulting in them making purchases using credit and debit cards filed with the targeted account.

A cybersecurity research firm, Check Point, “successfully exploited a security vulnerability” on a webpage oprated by Epic Games. Soon after, they notifed Epic Games of the results, around November of 2018. The law firm states that Epic Games didn’t acknowledge the flaw for two months, finally making a statement in January of this year.

Epic Games addressed the security breach on their support center.

“At Epic, we’ve been working hard to try to hunt down password dumps in order to proactively reset passwords for player accounts when we believe they are leaked online. While this approach involves a lot of manual work on our side, we believe that it prevents a significant amount of fraud,” developers said.

They added that this approach “doesn’t find every impacted account,” especially accounts that were created after the most recently checked password dump. They also provided tips for users who want to make their accounts more secure, including connecting social media accounts and keeping their computer up to date.

Franklin D. Azar & Associates stated that users have “no guarantee” that their information is protected under these new techniques.

“Furthermore, Fortnite users have no guarantee that the above security measures will in fact adequately protect their personal information. Fortnite users therefore have an ongoing interest in ensuring that their personal information is protected from past and future cybersecurity threats,” Franklin D. Azar & Associates stated.

The law firm is currently seeking out Fortnite players who had their accounts hacked or their credit cards charged.

“We will fight to get you the recovery you deserve,” they concluded.

Olivia Richman

About Olivia Richman

Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.

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