Cyber incident reported at Razer.

Bleeping Computer reported yesterday on recent rumors that the video game hardware company Razer may have been hacked on July 8th. A user on a nondescript hacker forum made a post titled “Razer.com - Source Code, Database, Encryption Keys, Ect” and requested $100 in XMR (a cryptocurrency named Monero, known for its transaction anonymity) for a full dump of the allegedly stolen information. Razer responded to this claim, on July 9th, in a tweet stating “We have been made aware of a potential breach and are currently investigating.” 

Razer’s response.

BleepingComputer also reported that Razer seems to have reset all member accounts requiring users to log in with their password and username, likely as a security response to the potential breach. Razer, while famous for their gaming accessories, also has several online paid services such as Razer Gold, a video game purchasing service with the ability to purchase in game items.

The possible breach was discovered by FalconFeedsio, who tweeted the information out for public awareness. Vulcan Post reported today, July 11th, that Razer has released a press statement regarding the possible breach stating. “Upon learning about the breach, the team immediately conducted a thorough review of all Razer’s websites and have taken the necessary steps to secure our platforms. Razer is still in the midst of investigations, and we remain committed to ensuring the digital safety and security of all customers.” Vulcan Post explained in their story that this attack has some similarities to a breach that occurred in 2020, when Razer was attacked, and subsequently required to pay $6.5 million in damages to victims who had their personal information sold on the dark web. 

Threats to software development environments. 

Phillip Ivancic, Head of Solutions Strategy, APAC at Synopsys, responded to the alleged attack writing, “The fact that early reports indicate that Razer’s attacker obtained their source code highlights a hugely important but often overlooked area of concern: the need for companies to pay special attention to their software development environments where source code is maintained.” He adds, “Source code is hugely valuable to attackers for two reasons:

Intellectual Property theft: This is fairly self-explanatory but source code provides all of the details about how an organization’s products work and the underlying business process supporting the business. This can have huge commercial value to an attacker.

Source Code can be analyzed offline to understand vulnerabilities and plan further attacks. By having direct access to the source code, an attacker can get an intimate understanding of any underlying vulnerabilities, therefore, providing them with the information they need to create malicious attacks that exploit those software vulnerabilities.

(Added, 10:00 AM, July 13th, 2023. Richard Bird, CSO of Traceable AI, offered a critical look at the company's security practices. “The situation with Razer is definitely one worth watching, in respect to how it unfolds. Because if the hackers claims are accurate, and they were able to exfiltration source code and encryption keys as well, it’s going to be very hard to believe that Razer was getting foundational security right. These high risk assets shouldn’t ever be reachable by a bad guy," Bird wrote. "Razer appears not to have applied lessons learned from the breach in 2020. Good stewardship would suggest that Razer should have immediately addressed any gaps that had caused their breach a couple years ago. When we see gamer information, inclusive of their account balances and other personal data, being exfiltrated yet again, it’s hard to ignore the historical reality that Razer just isn’t focusing on security the way that they should.” )