WildWorks

WildWorks (formerly Smart Bomb Interactive) develops and operates online games and virtual worlds aimed at children, most notably Animal Jam, a collaborative project with National Geographic that combines gameplay with educational content about wildlife, habitats, and conservation. The platform provides a moderated environment where players can create animal avatars, explore virtual lands, complete quests, and interact with peers while learning factual information. The company also maintains related merchandise and supplemental educational resources tied to its games.

WildWorks emphasizes child safety and privacy, adhering to regulations such as COPPA, and implements features like filtered chat, parental controls, and regular security audits. Its partnership with National Geographic provides access to vetted scientific content, distinguishing its offerings from purely entertainment-focused games. The company’s headquarters are located in the United States of America. Regarding the 2020 incident, threat actors exploited compromised Slack credentials to obtain AWS keys, leading to a breach that exposed approximately 46 million user accounts, including usernames, hashed passwords, and parent email addresses, prompting mandatory password resets and notifications. The organization responded by resetting passwords, notifying affected users, engaging law enforcement, and confirming that no plaintext credentials or children's real names were disclosed. Following the breach, WildWorks undertook a security review and enhanced protections for its cloud infrastructure and internal collaboration tools. The company maintains a commitment to providing an educational and safe online experience for its young user base.