Electronic Arts has poured cold water on claims its users' accounts have been breached.

News surfaced of a possible breach when a database of some 600 login records appeared on web clipboard Pastebin. The records, which included games purchased and personal identity information like birthdates were accurate for at least one gamer.

The gaming giant says an investigation has not uncovered evidence of packet plundering and advises users to maintain regular vigilance of accounts.

It says users should report unauthorised purchases and suspicious account activity within its Origin gamer portal.

"We found no indication at this point of a breach of our Origin account database," EA says in a statement.

"We encourage our players to use Origin user ID and passwords that are unique to their account, and to report any activity they feel may be unauthorised to EA customer support at help.ea.com."

Pastebin is at best an unreliable repository and at worst a script kiddie cesspit where dox and data are recombined from previous breaches in a bid to sow fear and inflate hackers' reputations.

Gamers should take the latest round of breach rumours as a reminder to ensure passwords are not repeated on other sites and are not easily guessed. Which means "correct horse battery staple" should be ruled out, among the usual suspects. ®