Cyber Incident Victim: Square Enix Co., Ltd.
Date:
Dec 2016
Location:
United Kingdom
Summary
The Square Enix Europe Twitter account was compromised by hackers identifying as "cyberwolfgang," who posted offensive content including racist and homophobic remarks while targeting EA, FIFA, and TechCrunch. The attackers manipulated follower interactions by mass-unfollowing and blocking users, drastically reducing the account's follower count, and briefly breached a related Just Cause account. After regaining control, the company deleted the unauthorized tweets, restored the follower base, and issued a public apology, with EA UK acknowledging the incident and expressing support following the account's recovery.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 1 motive | 1 technique |
| Threat Actor | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 actor | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On December 6, 2016, the official Square Enix Europe Twitter account was compromised by a group identifying as "cyberwolfgang." The attackers gained unauthorized access for approximately three hours, during which they posted a series of offensive tweets containing racist and homophobic language. They targeted Electronic Arts (EA) and its FIFA franchise with explicit insults, including tweets stating "Fifa is such a s**t game LOL RT" and claiming EA's games "suck so much." The hackers also disparaged Square Enix Europe itself with messages asserting the company "hate[s] white people so much" and shared a video of George Michael's "Careless Whisper" labeled as "hacker music." Concurrently, they manipulated the account's social metrics by mass-unfollowing users and blocking followers, causing the follower count to drop dramatically from over 151,000 to approximately 50,000. The breach extended to Square Enix's Just Cause franchise Twitter account, where the hackers posted "#cyberwolfgang everywhere!!!" before being expelled.
Square Enix regained control of both compromised accounts and deleted all unauthorized tweets. The company restored the original follower count and issued a public apology via Twitter, stating, "Sorry about that folks, that shouldn't have happened... Thanks for your support and understanding over the past few hours." EA UK responded supportively, tweeting, "Nice to see you back to normal, glad you're feeling better," to which Square Enix replied, "We weren't ourselves for a bit there... We do." No data theft or system compromises beyond the Twitter accounts were disclosed. The incident primarily resulted in reputational damage due to the offensive content's visibility and temporary loss of social media reach, though operational control was reestablished within hours.