The War Z Data Breach
The 2013 The War Z (Infestation: Survivor Stories) data breach occurred in February 2013 when the production player and vBulletin community database of The War Z (thewarz.com), an online multiplayer zombie survival game developed by Hammerpoint Interactive and OP Productions, was breached and subsequently acknowledged by the developers.
Exposed Data Types
6- Email addresses
- Usernames
- Passwords
- Password salts
- IP addresses
- Dates of birth
About This Breach
What information was affected in The War Z incident?
The leaked SQL database export (thewarz.com.sql) comprises 320,591 player and forum accounts, compromising:
- Identity & Gamer Handles: Account usernames and forum ranks.
- Authentication Credentials: User passwords salted and hashed using vBulletin MD5 cryptographic algorithms.
- Contact Coordinates: Validated player email addresses.
- Network Data: IP addresses recorded during registration and activity.
- Demographic Information: User-supplied dates of birth.
How many accounts were affected?
Strict RFC canonical email validation verified 320,453 unique valid email addresses across the database.
Technical analysis and security risks
Salted MD5 password hashes are susceptible to rapid offline dictionary attacks. If gamers reused these credentials across gaming platforms (e.g., Steam, Discord) or personal email accounts, they face severe credential stuffing and unauthorized account takeover threats.
Recommended actions for affected individuals
Former players of The War Z should:
- Immediately change passwords on any services where credentials matched their The War Z account.
- Activate multi-factor authentication (MFA / 2FA) across personal accounts.
Verification and editorial method
LeakData compares the incident name, date, affected-record count, and exposed data types with accessible sources. Unverified fields are not presented as facts, and records are updated when new evidence becomes available.
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