Cyber Incident Victim: 2K Games
Date:
Nov 2019
Location:
United States of America
Summary
A major video game publisher experienced a widespread compromise of its social media accounts, including official company pages and affiliated game profiles on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Attackers posted unauthorized content ranging from nonsensical messages to offensive material containing racist language. While control was regained over most accounts, some platforms still displayed the malicious posts at the time of reporting. The incident impacted multiple high-profile accounts simultaneously, including those associated with flagship game franchises, marking an unusually large-scale breach of corporate social media infrastructure.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 0 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On November 15, 2019, multiple official social media accounts belonging to video game publisher 2K Games were compromised in a coordinated security breach. Attackers gained unauthorized access to the company’s primary Facebook page, the Twitter account of NBA 2K spokesperson Ronnie 2K, and the official Borderlands franchise account, among others. The hackers simultaneously posted disruptive content across all compromised platforms, with identical messages appearing on each account. While some posts contained seemingly innocuous statements such as "Good to know, Borderlands," others included offensive material involving racist language not detailed in public reports. The breach represented an unusual escalation in scale compared to typical industry incidents, as it affected all major 2K social media channels concurrently rather than targeting individual employee accounts.
2K regained control over most affected accounts within hours of the incident, though residual hacker content remained visible on the company’s Facebook page at the time of initial reporting. The official Sid Meier’s Civilization social media account, which remained uncompromised, issued the sole official cleanup notice due to the widespread nature of the breach across other channels. No evidence suggested player data or internal systems were accessed. The incident caused operational disruption to 2K’s communications infrastructure and reputational damage through prolonged exposure of offensive content. Industry observers noted the breach’s significance as one of the first known cases where a major publisher’s entire social media ecosystem was simultaneously compromised, highlighting vulnerabilities in centralized social media management practices prevalent in the video game sector at the time.