Attn: URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT - SERVERS ARE STILL DOWN

Astro · Feb 15, 2019

This is so sad. And it's a long weekend here. Some people's children!

ICAS · Feb 15, 2019

LMAO ??????

ICAS · Feb 15, 2019

why only this game has those servers issues constantly? a hacker got into servers??? why a hacker want to try this game OMG it's so pathetic

Aernak · Feb 15, 2019

Thank you for the communication. What an awful thing to have happened.

Linda Music · Feb 15, 2019

Thank you for the update....

Good2DBone · Feb 15, 2019

I worked in IT for quite some time and I've never understood black-hat hackers' mentality. Unfortunately, there are ways into everything and every place if you have enough patience, money, and knowledge. I'm sorry this has happened to y'all and I'm sorry some @#$%!*& has decided to be cute and disturb the game for everyone. Thanks for taking care of it and good luck.

Viranda · Feb 15, 2019

Thank you for letting us know! I hope whoever hacked you guys is found and that it doesn't happen again! Good luck to you guys!

Marie Daniel · Feb 15, 2019

Astro said:
This is so sad. And it's a long weekend here. Some people's children!

They honestly have no clue to how much work they did for these devs to fix the problems they caused. You're right, they are children that have nothing else better than to ruin someone else's fun.

The Duke · Feb 15, 2019

There goes the $75 American spent on crown bags for our fellow clients. Worry not, US3, hopefully those don't mysteriously disappear and Dutchy and I can be back in full swing business for you all in 2-4 days!

PS...those that have pre-ordered still take first priority, however, we will probably prefer to mail crown bags instead of items to make the process easier in light of this treachery that's currently afoot!

Gems · Feb 15, 2019

Astro said:
This is so sad. And it's a long weekend here. Some people's children!

It is not only children that act this poor way. But then again. Grown ups is also some peoples children..

Well. Some downtime while they work on this gives us time to catch up with irl?
We got a great game and the best dev's ever so they will fix this. It will take time and it's all good. We all know they do their best and I'm sure we all could use a few days in the fresh air.

The Duke · Feb 15, 2019

Good2DBone said:
I worked in IT for quite some time and I've never understood black-hat hackers' mentality. Unfortunately, there are ways into everything and every place if you have enough patience, money, and knowledge. I'm sorry this has happened to y'all and I'm sorry some @#$%!*& has decided to be cute and disturb the game for everyone. Thanks for taking care of it and good luck.

Some of us decide to be either ethical or not in the practice of system and server manipulation. Perhaps ethical hacking shouldn't even be a thing in University but it is

Either way, without threats of system compromise, I wouldn't be needed in my choice of work and study so it's bittersweet.

Sarah Otter · Feb 15, 2019

Hi, Everyone,

We wanted to give you another update. This hack was not specific to Mad Otter or Villagers & Heroes, it was our Data Center which experienced a massive attack, so there are many like our company who have been affected by it. Our Data Center is working hard to restore order, but this situation as you already know could last several more days. We will continue to update you all with information throughout. Thank you all so much for your support during this time.

spirited · Feb 15, 2019

Thank you for all your help and communication Sarah. Good luck with all you and your company needs to do. After over 7 years playing the game I am more than happy to wait till it returns when you are all ready. Thanks again.

doggybite · Feb 15, 2019

Sarah Otter said:
Dear Players,

At approximately 2:45 pm PST on Thursday, February 14th, a hacker gained access to our servers.

We need to notify you that it is possible this hacker got the email names that you use to log into Villagers & Heroes. Your game passwords are encrypted, therefore the hacker cannot access your game accounts.

Just to be 100% safe, we recommend that if you use your game password for any other accounts, that you change it.

We can tell you that all of your accounts and characters are completely backed up, and will be restored. We are working to completely secure the servers so this does not happen again. We estimate this process will take 2-4 days. We apologize for this extreme downtime, and will be working tirelessly to restore everything and get the game up and running again.

Additionally, we do not store your name, address, or any payment or credit card info on our servers, so that was not compromised.

We will absolutely be compensating you for missed calendar rewards, and then some. In short, we will make this up to you, we promise.

Thank you again so much for your patience and understanding. You are truly a fantastic community.

so annoyed....keep up the good work...im sure I will be back in my kennel in no time xx

Moraxella · Feb 15, 2019

Good Heavens, hoping the otter team will be able to resolve this issue in a short matter of time and catch the culprit, if that's possible. Can't wait to comeback in-game and escape the reality that is my stressful workplace of a hospital

Hope those hackers get their own taste of karma.

Queeny · Feb 15, 2019

Is this site safe to check if passwords are comprimised?
https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

Kingcake · Feb 15, 2019

And as usual it's 95% likely some jerk with a computer. And as usual, Android users will be punished. Tired of these self inflicted wounds. Tired of being ripped off. I am never going to renew my subscription. I let it lapse last month and nothing happened, so I thought the crap was over. Paid for it this month and bam, trouble again. So done. No amount of goodies will replace what has been lost. Can't enjoy this no more. Bye bye all.

The Beer · Feb 15, 2019

Kingcake said:
And as usual it's 95% likely some jerk with a computer. And as usual, Android users will be punished. Tired of these self inflicted wounds. Tired of being ripped off. I am never going to renew my subscription. I let it lapse last month and nothing happened, so I thought the crap was over. Paid for it this month and bam, trouble again. So done. No amount of goodies will replace what has been lost. Can't enjoy this no more. Bye bye all.

bye, and good luck in life

Tiberius · Feb 15, 2019

The Duke said:
There goes the $75 American spent on crown bags for our fellow clients. Worry not, US3, hopefully those don't mysteriously disappear and Dutchy and I can be back in full swing business for you all in 2-4 days!

Nothing will be lost, that I can assure you.

Queeny said:
Is this site safe to check if passwords are comprimised?
https://haveibeenpwned.com/Passwords

That site is of course not updated real time with security breaches, but only whenever they get information from their sources that a company has been hacked and personal data has been leaked because of that.

Troy Hunt (the guy who runs that site) is pretty well connected in the industry and an expert in what he does, so his website has most info about past hacks and you can at least check if your email address has been involved in one of the bigger hacks that happened in the past. If you've used your email address for a while, chances are pretty high that this is the case ... if you want to know what hacks are in the database of that website, they have a list here.

Red Wizard · Feb 15, 2019

Thank you for the update. I hope the hacker is caught.