Fortnite Locker Tracker shut down: A lesson in data security
By Andrew Lin
Fortnite.gg has shut down the Fortnite locker tracker that went viral among players earlier this week amid security concerns. It promises to evaluate the contents of your locker so you can see how many V-Bucks you’ve spent (or wasted).
Some high profile players like SypherPK showed off their lockers, prompting many player curious to see the value of their accounts to do the same. There’s a problem here: the website isn’t managed by Epic Games and requires you to input your Fortnite log-in credentials. Needless to say, don’t do this.
Fortnite Locker Tracker shut down for security concerns
Epic Games even put out an official response to SypherPK, warning him and others to change passwords and enable two-factor authentication in case of a security breach. They also warned that there are no official features that can check account stats at this time.
The tracker’s parent site, Fortnite.gg, has since suspended the tracker’s log-in feature. They assured everyone that no accounts have been pwned and that all data gathered had been destroyed.
Players were concerned when their accounts were logged out after using the tracker, but this was due to a device authentication reset server side due to the external log in. There was a big meme storm from hacking hoaxes, but several Fortnite dataminers have cleared the air that no one’s account had been compromised yet. As a precaution and to quell confusion, Fortnite.gg has pulled the tracker service.
This brings us to an important issue: your data is important. Don’t freely give out your credentials to any site that asks for it or to any site you’ve seen others use. Nothing bad happened this time, but the situation could have been worse if Epic Games didn’t log people out and inadvertently cause a minor panic. It may have scared some players, but at least everyone is safe.