Back in January, reports surfaced of multiple Fortnite accounts being hacked. Now, months later, Epic Games is facing a class-action lawsuit from players that were directly affected. According to Epic, a breach in their security led to the hack. Millions of players were potentially affected by this, and the hack may have exposed personal information for those who had their accounts compromised. The suit has been filed in North Carolina’s U.S District Court by Franklin D. Azar & Associates.
Security shortcomings
The lawsuit alleges that Epic Games failed to “maintain adequate security measures and notify users of the security breach in a timely manner.” It also claims that, “Epic Games has not yet directly informed or notified individual Fortnite users that their [personally identifiable information] may be compromised as a result of the breach.” For its part, Epic has yet to publicly comment on the matter.
Currently, there are 100 class members participating in the suit. While 100 people is not a lot compared the millions who were potentially affected by the lapse in security, this could open the flood gates to more lawsuits.
Epic Games did acknowledge the hack
Epic Games did publicly comment on the issue back in January. Back then, they assured players that it had been fixed. They even tweeted another warning in May to players about scams. Whether or not that helps or hurts them in this case remains to be seen.
Say NO to scams!
Beware of scam sites offering free or discounted V-Bucks. The only official websites for Fortnite are https://t.co/8CxczhrZwk and https://t.co/zxorPaoiJb.
For more information of Account Security: https://t.co/oF57QdfDLH pic.twitter.com/5oTKougmuq
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 25, 2018
Multiple outlets have reached out to both the law firm and Epic Games about this, but neither has provided any additional statements.
For those who actively play Fortnite and many online games, cybersecurity is always in the back of everyone’s minds. No one wants their information or identity compromised. Players expect for big developers to have airtight security measures, but it seems Epic Games fell quite short here.
We here at Daily Esports will continue to follow this developing story.
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