Zynga Hack In September Exposes Information Of Over 200 Million 'Words With Friends' Players

Over 200 million players who enjoy the app “Words with Friends” had their log-in account information stolen in a massive September hack.

The hack was first reported by Hacker News, who revealed app publisher Zynga was the latest victim of a mass information hack in early September. It’s believed that the hacker accessed the log-in information of iOS and Android users who had downloaded “Words with Friends” before Sept. 2.

Shortly after the hack, a Pakistani hacker stepped forward to Hacker News taking credit for the information breach. While their actual name wasn’t provided, he goes by the alias Gnosticplayers online. He also claimed to breach information belonging to over 7 million users that downloaded “OMGPOP” and “Draw Something,” which are also published by Zynga.

Gnosticplayers previously claimed to have over 900 million user records stolen from 44 different companies during an interview with ZDNet in April.

Users’ screen names, emails, login IDs, Facebook accounts, Zynga accounts, and some phone numbers belonging to 218 million users were believed to have been exposed as part of the hack.

Zynga confirmed the hack in a statement released on Sept. 12 through its official website.

“Cyber attacks are one of the unfortunate realities of doing business today. We recently discovered that certain player account information may have been illegally accessed by outside hackers. An investigation was immediately commenced, leading third-party forensics firms were retained to assist, and we have contacted law enforcement.

“While the investigation is ongoing, we do not believe any financial information was accessed. However, we have identified account login information for certain players of Draw Something and Words With Friends that may have been accessed.

"As a precaution, we have taken steps to protect these users’ accounts from invalid logins. We plan to further notify players as the investigation proceeds.”