Words With Friends developer Zynga is currently facing a class action lawsuit. The case alleges the Zynga failed to protect the data of its players after hackers managed to get player information through a data breach back in 2019. This case was first brought to light in a report from Polygon.
It was back in September 2019 when Zynga revealed in a statement that "certain player account information may have been illegally accessed by outside hackers." The developer went on to say that they "have identified account login information for certain players of Draw Something and Words With Friends that may have been accessed." Zynga did say that they "do not believe any financial information was accessed."
The breach was revealed by none other than a hacker named Gnosticplayers. The hacker alleged that he managed to get users’ names, email addresses, login IDs, phone numbers, and passwords.
The Polygon report went on to say that the suit was filed by two individuals who claimed that not only did Zynga fail to protect player information, but also that they failed to inform "users in a timely manner." The plaintiffs went on to say that a large number of minors were implicated in the data breach. According to the suit, eight percent of Zynga's player base is minors, which could translate to around 14 million potential victims of the breach. Filed in California, the case has a total of 14 counts against Zynga.
Zynga was founded in 2007 and became known for its Facebook games like Farmville. At its peak, Farmville reported 30 million monthly active users. Zynga eventually went on to develop games for mobile devices that include Zynga Poker and Words with Friends.
Other games from Zynga include CSR Racing, Farmville: Country Escape, Merge Dragons and Empires & Puzzles.
Despite offering free-to-play games, Zynga gets revenue through direct payments for in-game virtual items. The developer also makes use of in-game advertising along with banner advertising for its game portals.
