author: Bart Swiatek
Epic Games Store Sent User's Sensitive Data to a Random Person
Epic Games Support has mistakenly sent private information about one user to another person. The injured party was informed of the leak. Representatives of the company also contacted the user who received the problematic message asking for its removal.
IN A NUTSHELL:
- Epic Games has sent user's sensitive data to another person;
- Epic has informed the client of the leak. The company assured that the information did not include address, date of birth or payment details;
- The victim claims that the e-mail contained a number of sensitive data;
- The player who mistakenly received the message reassured that he had deleted it.
One Reddit user u/TurboToast3000, has asked Epic Games to send him all the information they have about him. The company complied with the request (according to the european rules of GDPR the company had to do so) and informed him that... it had mistakenly sent the data to a random person. The story was made public in the forum and was discussed in several threads.
Human error - but how serious is it?
One Epic Games employee (arctyczyn) confirmed that this was indeed the, while at the same time ensuring that there was no address, date of birth or details of payment methods among the data. The victim himself claims that the unfortunate e-mail contained his name, address, shopping history, details of orders and IP address.
What's the law's stance on that?
It is worth noting that according to the GDPR if a data leak results in a risk of a breach of the rights or freedoms of individuals, it should also be reported to the relevant services. We do not know whether this provision applies in this case and, if so, whether it has been applied. It cannot be ruled out, however, that the matter will continue.
One thing seems certain - the mistake happened to the company at the worst possible moment. Epic Games has recently experienced significant image problems due to the strange rules of its store, as well as the controversial strategy of fighting for the computer games market. The company also faced accusations of spying on users and lackingbasic account security, and also failed to fully manage its first large sale. Another scandal - this time concerning insufficient care for the security of private data - is certainly not what the creators of Fortnite need right now.