Square Enix Europe's Twitter Account Hacked
By AJ Caulfield 04 January 2017
Developer and publisher Square Enix Europe was at the hands of a group called “cyberwolfgang,” when their Twitter account was hacked earlier this morning.
Concerns and questions alike were raised when acclaimed gaming company Square Enix, makers of Dragon Quest and the wildly popular Final Fantasy series, began tweeting childish, vulgar remarks. A group who call themselves “cyberwolfgang” gained access to the company’s European Twitter account in the early morning hours of Friday, January 6.
The series of strange tweets began at 6 a.m. EST with the first tweet making it evident the account was, indeed, hacked. “I AM THE GREATEST HACKER ALIVE…. SOMEONE HIRE ME LOL,” the hackers tweeted to Square Enix Europe’s 151,000+ followers.
Cyberwolfgang, a hacker group based around a hashtag on Twitter, continued on the all-caps rampage. Statements made by the hackers included an attack on the Electronic Arts title FIFA and on the top gaming company itself. The hacker group tweeted out, “Fifa [sic] is such a s*** game LOL RT.” Later, they targeted Electronic Arts specifically, telling them to “f*** off” and calling them “losers.”
But the hackers did not stop there. One tweet claimed that Square Enix Europe “hate[s] white people so much.” Another tweet asked the confusing question, “If U don’t watch ANIME then what are U doing with Ur LIFE??” In one tweet, hackers harassed tech industry news company Tech Crunch, while another dubbed the late George Michael’s song “Careless Whisper” as “hacker music.”
During their tirade on Square Enix Europe’s Twitter account, the hacker group cyberwolfgang opted to target and offend, but strangely, the tweets did not seem uniquely Square Enix-focused. Only one tweet by the European handle mocked the company and its headquarters’ staff. However, Square Enix was hit with another hack on its Just Cause game account, apparently by the same hacker group. “#cyberwolfgang everywhere!!!” the Just Cause account tweeted during the breech.
Thankfully for Square Enix Europe, the studio has regained access to its Twitter account – but at a price. The company lost nearly half its followers during the three-hour-long hack, due in large part to the hackers’ mass blocking of people who followed the account. Upon noticing the security breech, Square Enix Europe promptly deleted the hackers’ tweets and issued an apology.
Sorry about that folks, that shouldn’t have happened. Thanks for your support and understanding over the past few hours!
— SQUARE ENIX EUROPE (@SQUARE_ENIX_EU) January 6, 2017
Square Enix Europe has since recovered the followers lost in the cyberwolfgang hack, and it has also regained access to its Just Cause account. More or less, things have returned to normal, with minimal damage done.
Square Enix has likely learned an important lesson about two-step verification. Hopefully, the gaming company as a whole has not suffered from this unfortunate incident. With the recent success of Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15, it would certainly be a shame to see the respected developer and publisher be negatively affected as a result of the cyberwolfgang hack.
Square Enix released Final Fantasy 15 on November 29, 2016. The title is currently available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
