Rainbow Six Siege servers shut down after hackers gift billions in currency to players, Ubisoft potentially affected by breach

The servers for Ubisoft’s popular FPS Rainbow Six Siege have been taken offline following a major hacking incident where attackers distributed billions of in-game currency, rare cosmetic items, and bans to players, with development materials potentially stolen from the publisher.

The details:

• On Saturday, hackers infiltrated Rainbow Six Siege's servers, granting players billions in the game’s currencies, Renown and Credits, with numbers so high that it would cost almost $14 million USD to acquire legitimately. As a result, some players immediately took to the game’s user marketplace to capitalize on their newfound fortunes by purchasing the rarest cosmetics Siege has to offer, causing Ubisoft to pull both the game and the marketplace offline.
• Some players also discovered that the hackers had issued bans on random accounts for various offenses, including cheating and harassment. Ubisoft has since responded to the situation, confirming that it will roll back the game to a previous state before the breach, removing the currency, items, and false bans from its entire player base.

• It’s currently unknown exactly how the attackers gained access to Ubisoft’s backend to create such carnage, but it has been reported that the hackers used a new MongoDB exploit during the holiday period, giving them easy access without anyone noticing.
• It has also been claimed on social media that the unknown attackers have not only toyed with Siege but have also stolen over 900 GB of development assets, roadmaps, and more from Ubisoft’s biggest franchises. Currently, the hackers are said to be holding the content ransom, threatening the publisher with the public release of the files unveiling its upcoming games and more.