Summer has officially wrapped up, bringing forth colder nights, bigger sweaters and, as always, a plethora of hacking news to cover! Bringing you the biggest and latest hacking stories in the gaming industry, stay informed, and stay secure, with our latest Hacking Roundup!

Splatoon 3 hackers banned before game launch

While the latest installment of the hit franchise ‘Splatoon’ doesn’t release until September 9th, Nintendo have been highly proactive in preventing hackers from tampering with the games code. Just last weekend, Nintendo held an online test for its multiplayer game, providing fans and players with a first taste of the revamped ‘Splatfests’. However it wasn’t all fun and games for some players, as Nintendo developers were quick to crack down on hackers who were modifying the new entry in the series. As reported on Nintendo Life, it seems Nintendo is issuing console bans (possibly including a "total ban" from the Nintendo Switch Online service). We previously covered news about Nintendo enforcing powerful anti-hack systems to their games in our last hacking roundup, so be sure to check that out to learn more.

Hackers have stolen $100 million in cryptocurrency from Horizon

In our next story, hackers have stolen $100 million in cryptocurrency from Horizon’s blockchain bridge, in the latest major heist in the world of decentralized finance. Harmony, the developers behind Horizon, said they identified the theft. Harmony singled out an individual account it believes to be the culprit. It comes after a slew of prominent assaults on other blockchain bridges, as reported in our previous hacking roundups. In a security compromise that happened in March, the Ronin Network, which powers the cryptocurrency game Axie Infinity, lost more than $600 million. Another well-known bridge, Wormhole, suffered a loss of almost $320 million in a different hack a month earlier.

$2 million worth of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins hacked and stolen

In one of the biggest hacks in CSGO’s history, $2 million worth of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skins have been stolen. The hack occurred just days after the game mysteriously switched to public, where one of the largest skin collections in CSGO was stolen and, just hours later, sold on by the hacker through third-party trading websites. The user behind the account is HFB, a fervent CS:GO supporter who is said to reside in the United Arab Emirates. The collection contained a premium knife collection in addition to hundreds of incredibly costly gun skins. Normally, the profile is kept secret so that only friends on Steam can see it, but it just became public. Additionally, the username and profile photo were entirely modified. Fortunately, most of the skins stolen in the $2 million hack have been restored. It appears that Valve has reversed the trades that cause the skins to transfer accounts. HFB’s profile is set back to private, so they may have been moved to a new owner. To catch up with our previous hacking roundup, check out our June article, where we covered the latest hacking news surrounding Roblox, Axie Infinity and more.

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