Cyber Incident Victim: Glorious Leader!
Date:
Dec 2015
Location:
United States of America
Summary
The developers of a video game featuring a North Korean leader reported being targeted by hackers inspired by a high-profile Sony attack, resulting in destroyed project data and locked systems that disrupted their crowdfunding campaign. This incident, coupled with self-admitted mismanagement of pledge rewards, forced cancellation of their Kickstarter initiative amid ongoing security threats. The creators indicated this was not their first experience with such intrusions and subsequently reconsidered continuing the project, though they assessed the perpetrators as opportunistic amateurs unaffiliated with North Korean entities.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 3 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
The Glorious Leader! video game development and crowdfunding campaign experienced disruptions following a cyberattack targeting its creators, Moneyhorse Games. First announced in May 2014 as a platformer featuring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the project launched a Kickstarter campaign in December 2014 to secure development funds. Approximately one week after the campaign began, Moneyhorse canceled it, citing a holiday-season hack that destroyed game development data and locked the team out of their computers and website. Developers attributed the attack to perpetrators inspired by the contemporaneous Sony Pictures Entertainment breach, though they clarified no evidence linked it to North Korean operatives. The intrusion impaired their ability to manage Kickstarter operations during a critical funding period. Moneyhorse concurrently acknowledged self-identified errors in their pledge reward structure and funding goals, which contributed to the campaign's termination. Initial developer statements characterized the hackers as "opportunistic copycats" executing a "hoax," noting prior hacking attempts against the project.
The incident resulted in irreversible data loss affecting Glorious Leader! and other undisclosed projects, operational paralysis from system lockouts, and the dissolution of crowdfunding efforts. Moneyhorse described the hack as the latest in a series of threats and cyber intrusions tied to the game’s controversial subject matter. These cumulative security incidents prompted the studio to reassess its continued involvement with the title, though their announcement did not explicitly confirm project cancellation. No technical details about attack vectors, malware, data recovery efforts, or system restoration timelines were disclosed publicly. The breach’s operational impact remained inseparable from the admitted crowdfunding missteps in derailing the campaign. Public communications concluded with an apology to supporters but provided no remediation plans, law enforcement engagement details, or future project adjustments beyond the studio’s broader reevaluation of its commitment to the game.