Epic responds to concerns over leaked Fortnite player logins

Fortnite players have made big claims that Epic is leaking player logins through the battle royale’s in-game leaderboard. However, the developer has insisted the system is safe, and there’s been no evidence of hacked accounts through it.

Security scares are no joke, and while developers do their best to keep them underwraps, they can sometimes appear where you least expect them.

That’s what Fortnite pro Jonathan ‘Yung Calculator’ Weber was claiming after being mysteriously logged out of his account. The Built By Gamers player claimed Fortnite’s in-game leaderboards were leaking players’ private information, including email addresses.

People could then use these emails to either try and brute force hack accounts, or reset passwords and kick players out of the game.

“Guys, Epic Games’ infrastructure is so dogmeat that if you don’t have this turned off, people can find your email,” he said.

https://twitter.com/yungcalc/status/1352427457614389248

“That’s kind of bad on its own, but then if they have your email, they can send password resets to your account. That’s fine normally ⁠— on Twitter, it means nothing normally ⁠— but on Epic Games, it logs you out in-game.”

“This has happened to Clix, Nick Eh 30, Nate Hill ⁠— everyone. Epic Games has no idea what they’re doing. Their infrastructure is garbage. They need to change it ⁠— it’s disgraceful.”

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However, people aren’t sold on Yung’s story. Fortnite dataminer ‘FNBRUnreleased’ has stated that it’s impossible. Epic’s API doesn’t allow for the sharing of information like Yung and others think.

“It is not possible to view the email of another person’s Epic [account]. Epic’s API does not work like that. I’ve been seeing this rumor from [Yung Calculator] spreading false information,” they claimed.

https://twitter.com/FNBRUnreleased/status/1352449938207158274

FNBRUnreleased’s standpoint has been backed up by Epic. The developer published a statement in response to Yung’s claims, saying leaderboards do not leak any players’ secure information.

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“We investigated reports that leaderboards were divulging non-public information or causing unauthorized logouts. This is not the case.

“We are certain that affected accounts remain secure, player info (incl. email addresses) isn’t being divulged & any logout issue is resolved.”

For now, players should just always make sure their passwords are strong to best protect against any leak. Plus, turn on two-factor authentication if you can.