Ransomware Group Exposes Insomniac Games' Large Data Cache, Unveiling Unreleased Wolverine Game

The Rhysida ransomware group has made public more than 1TB of internal data from Sony Group Corp.’s SONY Insomniac Games, containing data pertaining to the forthcoming Wolverine game, a PlayStation 5 exclusive.

What Happened: Rhysida dumped 98% of the data, totaling 1.67TB, on their darknet site after Insomniac Games did not meet the ransom deadline. The data dump included more than 1.3 million files, many of which pertained to Insomniac’s upcoming Wolverine video game, reported Cyber Daily.

Rhysida disclosed a portion of the data was sold to an interested party, leading to only 98% of the total data set being made public. The ransomware group initially threatened to release the data on Dec. 12, setting a ransom of approximately $2 million.

See Also: Apple’s $1.1 Trillion App Store Developers Get A New Trick For Subscriptions: Here’s What It Means For Users

The data leak also encompassed files from Insomniac's Spider-Man 2 game, internal HR documents, and screenshots of Insomniac's Slack channels. The leak revealed a publishing agreement between Marvel and Sony Interactive Entertainment, specifying the release dates and budgets for three upcoming X-Men games, including Wolverine.

The contract mandates Wolverine’s publication no later than Sept. 1, 2025, and Sony is projected to spend a minimum of $120 million on each game.

Rhysida said Sony and Insomniac were purposely targeted, stating they knew these game developers would be an “easy target”. The group made it clear that their primary motivation behind the attack was to make a financial profit.

Sony has initiated an investigation into the issue, although Rhysida insists it would be more productive “in the backyard”.

Why It Matters: This security breach is not the first for Sony. In October 2023, Sony admitted to a second security breach. An extortion group identified as “Ransomed.vc” had claimed responsibility for hacking into Sony’s systems and stealing 3.4GB of data a week prior.

That breach dating back to May involved the personal data of approximately 6,791 current and former Sony employees. This recent data leak from Rhysida underscores the ongoing vulnerabilities in Sony’s security systems.

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin’s Shrewd Negotiation Strategy Helped Swing Deal With Apple In 2007