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The multi-player browser gaming platform NationStates has acknowledged a recent data breach on its site.
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Following the attack, NationStates took its website offline.
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The security breach imparted users’ email addresses, MD5 password hashes, and more.
NationStates, a long-running browser-based game, has confirmed that its website suffered a data breach earlier this week and has been taken offline while the situation is investigated.
The incident affected email addresses used in accounts, password hashes in MD5, and other users’ information. This breach, while contained to a gaming platform, occurs against a backdrop of a surging wave of data breaches hitting global corporations, with stolen data routinely dumped on the dark web.
Browser-Gaming Platform Acknowledges a Compromise
The developers of NationStates, a multiplayer browser game in which users can build and run virtual nations, took the site down after secondary confirmation of unauthorized access to the server, according to Bleeping Computer.
Although it is unclear how serious this breach is, it is one of the largest security breaches in NationStates’ history. Initially, the problem surfaced on January 27th, 2026, when a single player informed the creator of a flaw in the game code. This same player subsequently hacked into the game’s server to copy some of the game’s source code along with user information, to his own computer.
On February 2, 2026, the developers publicly announced a data breach, stating that all users’ data was compromised because they could not confirm whether all copied data had been deleted.
How Hackers Breached the System and What Data They Exposed
The report in the official security notice contains a very specific explanation of how this breach occurred. The report identified a flaw in a new feature, Dispatch Search, added to the game in late 2025 as the source of the security risk.
This vulnerability allowed hackers to execute code remotely on the game’s production server, a type of attack known in the cybersecurity industry as remote code execution (RCE).
The exposed information includes:
- Email addresses connected to accounts, including previous addresses used.
- Password hashes are stored using MD5, an older and insecure method that can be easier to crack once accessed.
- IP addresses used for logging in.
- Information on the name of the browser and the type of device used to connect to it (also referred to as a “browser user-agent).
Meanwhile, the NationStates website does not keep users’ sensitive personal data, such as names, phone numbers, or credit card numbers. However, because of accessing emails and passwords, it is concerning for users who may still use the same information on other sites.
Exposed credentials from breaches like this often fuel larger identity theft ecosystems, as seen in the recent global cybersecurity breach that exposed 149 million passwords, dramatically increasing fraud risks.
Experts stressed that attackers can sometimes reverse passwords stored as hashes, and the hash’s strength determines how easily it can be cracked. Therefore, they advise that users should change their passwords for any other places where they used the same credentials.
The breach also touched part of the game’s private messaging system, known as “telegrams.” While the attacker did not fully enter the server that holds Telegram data, they did attempt to copy some of its contents.
Developer Response and What Comes Next
To mitigate the breach, the NationStates developers announced that to have no residual problems from this incident, they will completely rebuild their production server from scratch. To achieve this, the NationStates team will take the site offline to complete a fresh, secure installation.
The team is also reporting the server breach to government officials and will audit and strengthen security before reopening the NationStates site.
One of the most significant security upgrades will consist of moving away from aging hash algorithms like MD5 to the use of modern hash algorithms, which reduces the potential of exposing users’ account credentials in future breaches.
The NationStates expects that the downtime of the site will be two to five days. Once the game is back online, players will be able to view the exact data NationStates stored about their nation by visiting the site’s private info page.
The developer posted transparent updates on the NationStates site and shared them across community forums, where many players expressed frustration over losing access to their nations but appreciated the team’s efforts to secure the game properly.
