Recently the Edge of Space Kickstarter got hacked and apparently a mass e-mail was sent out to backers asking for sensitive information like credit card numbers. For anyone even remotely familiar with Internet security this should have sent up huge red flags immediately. Thankfully, it looks like most of those affected weren’t stupid enough to fall for the hackers’ tricks. While this is all too common of an occurrence in the world at large this is the first time that I’ve actually seen this happen to a crowdfunded project.

Edge of Space

HandyMan Studios quickly got to work on plugging the hole left by the hackers and regained control the same day it was detected. While there hasn’t been any update regarding how fortified their account is by now things should be back to normal. The last comment either in the update they released for Edge of Space or in the main comments section itself was on the same day this breach occurred so I would assume things are back under their control. Still, this must have been a scary thing to see.

Edge of Space

Aside from the e-mail asking for personal information the hackers also decided to play a little prank in the comments before they lost control of the account. A screenshot of what transpired can be seen above. While Edge of Space is the first Kickstarter campaign that I’ve heard of to get compromised like this I’m sure it’s not going to be the last either. If you ever get an e-mail from a project creator asking for information that they shouldn’t be asking for consider it a sign that things are amiss. If you have a contact e-mail or social media account and this happens I suggest that you contact them immediately if something looks weird.

About the Author

Serena Nelson

Serena has been a gamer since an early age and was brought up with the classic adventure games by Sierra On-Line, LucasArts, and Infocom. She's been an active member on Kickstarter since early 2012 and has backed a large number of crowdfunded games, mostly adventures. You can also find her writing for Kickstart Ventures and evn.moe.

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