Capcom forced staff to work on-site after the hack, despite covid restrictions - report

Staff weren't able to work remotely after cyberattack.

Japanese publishing giant Capcom allegedly instructed staff to work in the office despite covid restrictions after the publisher fell victim to a ransomware hack.

That's according to local publication Business Journal – as reported by Kotaku – which claims that this took place even though Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in some parts of the country. This instructed people to work from home or only have limited staff in an office due to concerns about the spike on covid-19 cases. Osaka, Capcom's home, was one such area.

Employees were apparently told to work in the office after the cyberattack as Capcom was reportedly unable to make sure its external network was secure. This meant that people were unable to do their work remotely.

Capcom responded to the report, insisted that it took the health and safety of its employees seriously. The firm also said that staff were required to wear masks and socially distance, in addition to having their temperature checked when coming to work. Capcom also claims that working hours were staggered, presumably to limit the number of staff in the office at a given time.

Capcom was hit with a cyberattack in November 2020. Around 1TB of data was leaked as a result, including details about the company's upcoming games as well as the names, emails and personal information of its staff in Japan, the US and Canada.

The Resident Evil maker isn't the only company to be hit by such an attack. CD Projekt was the victim of a hack in February, with similar disruptions reported to working conditions at the Polish studio.