I run a small website from home. I don't have a business address or phone number. But cool, call me dumb.
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E3 organization leaks data for over 2,000 journalists and analysts [Update: Additional security breaches discovered, see threadmarks]
- Thread starter DerbyCityDerek
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I run a small website from home. I don't have a business address or phone number. But cool, call me dumb.
Most attendees at e3 were the press until a few years ago. This will severely affect them and it should.
Well, Gamestop is hemorrhaging money so it would be kind of poetic that they both end up dying around the same time. Maybe the PAX people could buy it? Idk, i'm fine with Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft just having their own event every year at this point.
Wait, so ya'll both are byte-sized? WTF. What are the odds! I need background on your nicknames now. This can't be a coincidence ByteSizeRick
While I'm not an expert on the GDPR, going over the explanatory note from the European Data Protectors Board on the scope, I am indeed skeptical if the GDPR could be enforced towards ESA. While it would -likely- fall under scope of the Regulation via art.3(2), the enforcement of the rights of the impact European Union citizens would not be easily enforced outside of the Union, given that ESA does not have an establishment or (I assume) a representative here. If you're an affected EU citizen/journalist, you can contact your national Data Protection Authority and they can investigate and determine a fine. But indeed, since ESA does not have an establishment here, worst thing they can do if ESA doesn't pay up, is block the ESA's website.
You have to be a total asshole to send anyone to cover this next year if no changes are made.
Blame the ESA for shit like this:
Blame the ESA for shit like this:
I actually doubt that anything at all is going to happen. Who of the media is going to sue and bite the hands that feed them? You have to remember that the esa IS the games industry. The board is stacked with AAA executives. And games journalism is access journalism.
Also if media refuses to go to E3, other media/freelancers will go in their stead. The consumer interest is there.
The only way to "kill" e3 is if big publishers and platform owners will just not show all that much there anymore. Which, to be fair, is already kinda happening.
Publishers have been stricken by this incident too, so patience with the ESA is probably wearing thin all around.
Is it? Remember, this last year they were letting the public in and everyone was talking about how E3 was a ghost town.
I'm talking about consumer interest in media coverage, not on-site visitors. If a lot of media outlets are boycotting E3 over this leak, then other outlets will jump in and will reap the clicks.
Uh, I was at E3 this year as someone who received a special 1-day pass from Nintendo. I was not involved with any of the booths or the media, but I did participate in the Nintendo World Championships, which is tangentially related to E3.
Should I be concerned?
Should I be concerned?
I'm pretty sure regular attendees are not gonna care about it in the slightest, but journalist, analysts, and influencers are gonna think twice about going there again. Maybe it could be positive for regular people attending, who knows, but I bet the ESA really cares about numbers to completely ignore all the rest of people not going.
No, if your info wasn't given tru the ESA registration, you should be clear.
Real talk, with how the internet works these days, you don't even need to be at E3 anymore in order to rank those views/clicks. I know A LOT of people who do coverage online, just watching the big pressers, trailers and second-hand info, and they do pretty well in traffic. Big media like Gamespot or IGN will still be attending because they have to maintain some prestige and a reputation of being "the big gaming media", but I don't think anyone below truly needs to attend E3 in order to do decent/proper coverage (been there, done that).
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I know but someone just made another thread about DS exclusively that's already the size of this one. A year from now when gamers need their e3 hype I want to see how all these sites big or small react.
Seems like a lot of youtubers and stuff are refusing to cover it like Kinda Funny so that might seem why?
Angry Joe covered it briefly yesterday but was still under the assumption only 2019s data had leaked.
Well, I personally didn't do any of that, but I can't guarantee that Nintendo didn't provide the ESA with the info I gave them in order to get my badge.
I think I need to make a phone call.
I want to believe people don't want to cover the issue in order to not spread it even more?
For transparency sake, I attended E3 some years ago but never knew which years were previously leaked according to GI.biz (Edit: It was 2004, 2006 and 2018). Luckily for me, most of my contact info from back then is already outdated, but still sucks for this to happen.
Once again, as I said, most of the smaller sites don't need to attend E3 in order to hype/cover it, so ain't gonna affect them that much. I bet people from big companies will still most likely go, so there still will be coverage for all the needs.
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True. But my main point is all the talk about "E3 is dead and buried after this" is way overblown. I don't think anything is going to happen.
Ah yeah, E3 will still exist, no matter what. Is too big of an institution to just vanish from one year to another. But this surely will help move forward the narrative of losing his weight (with right reason) and importance in the industry.
Here's an ESA response given to GamesIndustry.biz:
They are cooked I really don't see how anyone would willingly take the chance and come back.
"Don't post people's personal information in an unencrypted, insecure format on your publicly accessible website. Ever. Just don't do that."
Now where's my consultancy fee?
Having created the E3 General Information & FAQ for quite a few years now, I am quite familiar with e3expo.com. Thus I became aware of these files quite early on (in May 2019) and communicated in a closed environment with some friends within the media. Needless to say, they were not thrilled. I believe some contacted ESA about the issue but received little to nothing back. As has others mentioned.
The E3 website is a basic WP site with rather poor security. The more intimate sections, like the exhibitor section, are thankfully password protected but many other sections are not. Many external systems are utilized too, some that are very open.
Currently I am monitoring these domains and systems in preparation for E3 2020. Some E3 2020 related data is already available, but not in such quantity or quality to provide any greater details on how the show next year is going to happen. But I keep an eye on it and will report as soon as possible if any newsworthy developments happen.
Lastly, I think this whole situation is very appaling and a sign of ESA needing some great changes. I would even like to suggest that E3 perhaps should be put on hold for the time being until all issues have been worked out. Because it would be very unfortunate to see something like this happen again.
The E3 website is a basic WP site with rather poor security. The more intimate sections, like the exhibitor section, are thankfully password protected but many other sections are not. Many external systems are utilized too, some that are very open.
Currently I am monitoring these domains and systems in preparation for E3 2020. Some E3 2020 related data is already available, but not in such quantity or quality to provide any greater details on how the show next year is going to happen. But I keep an eye on it and will report as soon as possible if any newsworthy developments happen.
Lastly, I think this whole situation is very appaling and a sign of ESA needing some great changes. I would even like to suggest that E3 perhaps should be put on hold for the time being until all issues have been worked out. Because it would be very unfortunate to see something like this happen again.
Is it really a big institution anymore? It was a decade ago but since than E3 has become less and less relevant.
E3 was a convenient way for mainstream journalist to get superficial information to cover games in an article. Publisher and hardware manufacturer realised they can get a similar or even greater audience when they carefully choose their own date for their presentation videos instead get lost between the other ones at e3.
Nintendo don't need e3 to show their extremely successfull directs. Sony didn't even attended last e3. The other publishers e3 shows looked old fashioned and outdated.
Reminder: the "leaked" lists were designed to be spread freely across exhibitors. Bigger lists (with all registered attendees) were available for purchase at $200 per 1000 names.
I don't think this is a question of security, per se, but rather ethics and responsibilities.
Oh I know this is an ethics problem, which is why I'm throwing side-eye at them framing it as a security problem.
Even calling this a "leak" is giving the ESA too much credit.
I'm one of the lucky ones on the leaked list and I just got this mail:
(removed the links)
Seems very fishy, did somebody else get this too? Or knows what's behind the mail?
(would've made this it's on thread but since I mostly just lurk here, this is my first post and I'm not allowed to create a thread yet)
(removed the links)
Seems very fishy, did somebody else get this too? Or knows what's behind the mail?
(would've made this it's on thread but since I mostly just lurk here, this is my first post and I'm not allowed to create a thread yet)
Yeah, not planning on answering it. I'm mostly curious if someone already knows who's behind that.
The survey asks for name and email, then asks if there's been any harassment, financial loss, or other things as a result of the leak. It also asks if there's interest in being involved in legal action.
All of the non ID information is yes/no questions.
All of the non ID information is yes/no questions.
I just read the first part of the questionair but didn't fill out anything.
Went on to find out more about the "ESA Data Leak Coalition" instead who handily don't seem to have any internet presence at all.
Went on to find out more about the "ESA Data Leak Coalition" instead who handily don't seem to have any internet presence at all.
This raises a red flag for me, immediate red flag is raised in my mind about any group/organization who has zero internet presence but has randomly sent out emails with a link to an online survey.
Same for me. I suspect I'd only find proof of them on websites I try to avoid...
