Over Two Million Emails Reportedly Leaked in Attack on Sega’s Third-Party Newsletter Distributor, Accounts Unaffected
Sega Email Addresses Exposed in Arara Cyberattack
Sega has revealed that more than two million email addresses were exposed in a cyberattack targeting Japanese email delivery provider Arara, which the publisher of Like a Dragon and Sonic uses to distribute newsletters.
Sega and Arara are investigating the breach. It does not appear to have affected Sega accounts, which users can access to receive in-game rewards and view a calendar featuring reminders such as Kazuma Kiryu’s birthday. The companies have urged subscribers to the affected newsletters to remain alert for potential phishing attempts.
According to Automaton’s translation of Sega’s official press release, a total of 2,196,044 email addresses were affected, including 92,273 addresses associated with newsletter distribution.
Sega identified several affected newsletter releases, including two exhibition announcements for this year’s Tokyo Game Show; the launch announcement for the arcade rhythm game Chunithm Mate; six newsletters concerning the online character lottery service Sega Lucky Kuji Online; the launch of the Ongeki Re:Fresh Act.2 rhythm game update; and the launch of another arcade rhythm game update, Maimai DX MAGiCAL.
Sega advised recipients of these newsletters to watch for phishing emails from individuals falsely claiming to be affiliated with Sega or Arara.
Sega reportedly confirmed that the affected data is not known to include names, dates of birth, genders, residential addresses, phone numbers, credit card information, or passwords. At the time of the announcement, there had also been no reported cases of the leaked information being misused.
The company has suspended further newsletter distribution through Arara until the investigation is complete. It also plans to contact each affected individual once the full details of the breach have been confirmed.
Although data breaches and cyberattacks are not new, several have occurred recently. Capcom, the developer of Street Fighter, and Warhorse, the developer of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, both experienced incidents of their own last month.
