Activision continues to grapple with serious cybersecurity challenges as recent hacking incidents have raised alarms among players of its popular title, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.” The firm has recently faced a series of layoffs over the past few years. The ensuing job cuts have decimated its cybersecurity teams, endangering the safety of its vast gaming community.
In 2023, players of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare” fell victim to a self-spreading malware that exploited a years-old unpatched bug in the game. The breach prompted Activision to take further measures. They opened an investigation into a larger hacking campaign that had victimized players with infostealer malware earlier that year. As a response to ongoing security concerns, Activision temporarily took down the Microsoft Store version of “Call of Duty: WWII” due to reports of a similar issue.
The flaw in “Call of Duty: WWII” allowed hackers to exploit vulnerabilities, leading to several players having their computers hacked. Unfortunately for Activision, this incident may be a signal of a larger trend. Now, for the second year in a row, the firm has suffered various hacking events raising alarms about the effectiveness of its cyber hygiene.
In November 2024, a hacker exposed a massive vulnerability in Call of Duty’s anti-cheat system. This vulnerability made the game feel unsafe and led to thousands of legitimate gamers being flagged and wrongly banned. The rise in these types of situations has led players to take to social media to express their concerns. One user on Reddit stated, “The game is not safe to play on PC right now, there’s an RCE exploit.”
Until now, no one had explicitly connected the dots between Activision’s layoffs and the recent spate of puzzling hacking incidents plaguing its games. What a connection they have! That recent news has focused new attention on the company’s controversial layoffs, particularly among its cybersecurity staff. Adding another layer of distressing complexity to the situation, reports allege that Microsoft’s pending $68.7 billion acquisition of videogame company Activision Blizzard played a role in these layoffs.
The gaming industry will be watching closely to see how Activision follows through on these public commitments and addresses these security breakdowns. At the same time, industry insiders are holding their breath. Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, Senior Writer, TechCrunch. Given his specialty in hacking and cybersecurity, if anybody can help us understand the implications of these events, it will be him.