A Ubisoft website has been hacked exposing customer data including names and encrypted passwords. The company released a statement on Tuesday admitting that an account database has been illegally accessed, and that an investigation had begun. Although no credit card or other payment details are kept on the www.ubi.com site, the publisher of such titles as Assassin's Creed and Far Cry 3 has told users to change their passwords.

Originally it had been reported that the hack originated with Uplay, a digital hub and distribution service for downloadable games. However, the statement claims that Uplay is unaffected. The company is, however, advising members of the service to change their passwords, too.

This is not the first time Ubisoft itself has been targeted. In April, news site Gameranx reported that software pirates had managed to exploit a vulnerability in Ubisoft's Uplay launcher to access the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon title, releasing the code onto torrent sites. At the time, Ubisoft stated, "We are aware of the issue and are working to resolve it quickly. No personal information was compromised."

Gamers are unlikely to be entirely assured however. Last July, a major security vulnerability was discovered in the Uplay browser extension, which opened an exploitable back door into the user's system. Ubisoft quickly plugged the hole with an update, and released a statement to claim that the problems had been resolved.

Data security is becoming more of a problem throughout the games industry as companies move toward digital distribution methods, selling titles online rather than through retail. In January, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe was fined £250,000 after the 2011 PlayStation Network hack that placed the data of millions of customers in jeopardy. A month later, Nintendo servers were hacked, although the company claimed that no personal customer data was accessed. In March, an exploit was discovered in Electronic Arts' online gaming service Origin, which made it theoretically possible for hackers to introduce malicious code into game downloads.

Ubisoft has set up a forum thread for customers who have questions about security. Ironically, the company is currently working on a new game, Watch Dogs, in which hacking is a central component. The development team reportedly hired an expert from Kaspersky Lab to ensure the depiction of hacking was accurate.