CDPR's Stolen Cyberpunk 2077 And Witcher 3 Source Code Viciously Sold To A Bidder
Yesterday, we learned that the hackers were auctioning off source code for both Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3. They started the auction at $1,000,000 and expected to get the bidding to skyrocket from interested parties. However, the CDPR hackers have permanently closed the auction because an outside offer was made that was just too good to pass up.
News of this new development first came from cybersecurity firm Kela, which posted the following to Twitter:
VX-Underground, which originally shed light on the existence of the stolen data on the internet, followed with its own tweet confirming the sale:
At this point, we don't know the final offer figure from the outside party, but we'd assume that it went for much higher than $1,000,000 starting bid (the original starting bid was incorrectly listed at $1,000 yesterday). The auction for the ill-gotten digital goods reportedly had a "Buy It Now" price of $7,000,000. We'd assume that the hackers got close enough to the latter figure for it to take the step of ending the auction.
CDPR made it clear from the start that it would not pay a ransom for the stolen source code. "We will not give in to the demands nor negotiate with the actor, being aware that this may eventually lead to the release of the compromised data," CDPR explained when it announced the breach on Tuesday. "We are taking necessary steps to mitigate the consequences of such a release, in particular by approaching the parties that may be affected due to the breach."
While we don't believe that corporations should bow down to ransom threats, CDPR is in the unenviable position of its intellectual property now being in the hands of an unknown party. Not only is Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3 compromised, but the company's online card game Gwent has also been pilfered. In addition, the winning bidder also has access to the source code for the unreleased Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales.
CDPR has not yet commented on this latest revelation in its source code theft saga.
