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Cybersecurity firm details Fortnite flaw that left players open to account takeover

January 17, 2019

A recent discovery by cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. serves as a reminder that just one small, careless oversight can give hackers all the opening they need to victimize millions and damage a valuable brand.

The company wrote in a blog post Wednesday that it had  identified a vulnerability in the enormously popular Fortnite video game that represented a considerable threat to the video game's 80 million registered players.

A vulnerability linked to the game's unvalidated login page "could have allowed a threat actor to take over the account of any user, view their personal account information, purchase virtual in-game currency and eavesdrop on in-game chatter as well as home conversations," the blog said.

Though this vulnerability was identified and addressed before a hack could occur, the Check Point blog said that Fortnite players have been targeted before by scammers posing as discount sellers of in-game currency, V-bucks.

As the blog pointed out, "With such a meteoric rise in fortune, it is no surprise the popular game has already attracted the attention of cybercriminals set on conning unsuspecting players."