Ubisoft shuts down Rainbow Six Siege servers after security breach
▼ Summary
– Ubisoft confirmed a major security breach in Rainbow Six Siege, forcing it to shut down the game’s servers and marketplace.
– Hackers gained extensive control, including the power to ban players, unlock all items, and grant every player 2 billion in-game credits.
– The 2 billion R6 Credits granted by hackers have an estimated real-world cash value of approximately $13.33 million.
– Ubisoft stated players will not be punished for spending the credits, but all transactions made after a specific time will be rolled back.
– Service had not been restored at the time of writing, and the publisher had been contacted for further comment.
In a significant security incident, Ubisoft was forced to take its popular tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege offline after hackers successfully breached the game’s core systems. The company confirmed the compromise, shutting down all game servers and the in-game marketplace while its teams worked to address the vulnerability. The intrusion was severe, granting the attackers administrative control that allowed them to ban and unban players at will, send custom messages through the ban notification system, and unlock every single in-game item for all users. Most dramatically, the hackers distributed a staggering two billion R6 Credits and Renown to the entire player base.
The financial implications of this virtual currency dump are substantial. Ubisoft sells R6 Credits directly to players, with a bundle of 15,000 credits priced at $99.99. Based on that rate, the two billion credits gifted by the hackers represent an approximate real-world value of $13.33 million. This act effectively flooded the game’s economy with an astronomical sum of premium currency.
In response to the breach, Ubisoft has adopted a lenient stance toward players who may have spent the illicit funds. The studio stated that no punitive actions would be taken against users for spending any of the credits they received during the incident. However, to prevent widespread abuse and restore economic balance, the company plans to roll back all transactions made after 11:00 AM UTC on Saturday. This ensures that any purchases or trades completed after that specific cutoff time will be reversed. As of the latest reports, Rainbow Six Siege services remain suspended while the security fixes are implemented. The development team is focused on a full restoration, though a precise timeline for the servers coming back online has not yet been provided.
(Source: The Verge)
