On October 19, Square Enix issued a security alert on the Final Fantasy XIV official website, confirming unusual login activity on some Square Enix accounts. The company urges users who reuse login credentials or have easily guessable passwords to change them as soon as possible.
The company believes that attackers may be attempting to use email addresses or account ID and password combinations leaked from other online services. If users reuse the same login credentials for their Square Enix accounts and other services, the risk of unauthorized access increases significantly. Even without password reuse, easily guessable information such as repeated characters, sequential numbers, and birthdays still poses a high risk.
For accounts suspected of being compromised, Square Enix will restrict login access and send instructions for lifting the restriction to the registered email address. Users must reset their passwords before they can log in to their accounts again.
The company also recommends that users enable one-time passwords in addition to their IDs and passwords. These passwords are only valid for a limited time and become invalid after a single use, providing an extra layer of account security. If abnormal access attempts continue to increase, Square Enix does not rule out the possibility of resetting all account passwords. Currently, the company has not disclosed the number of affected accounts or clarified whether any specific game data has been lost.