Online game cheaters are blamed for ruining the experience for others. They use fraudulent means to gain undue advantage over other players. Last Sunday, the account of pro players was hacked during the Apex Legends Global Series Finals for the North American region. Some developers are now fighting back.
Respawn Entertainment published an update on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, about the unfortunate event last Sunday saying that it would release a series of updates to make sure that a similar occurrence doesn’t happen in the future.
“On Sunday, a few professional Apex Legends player accounts were hacked during an ALGS event,” Respawn wrote in an update on X. “Game and player security are our highest priorities, which is why we paused the competition to address the issue immediately.”
“Our teams have deployed the first of a layered series of updates to protect the Apex Legends player community and create a secure experience for everyone. Thank you for your patience.”
Some pro players started noticing that their accounts were being hacked and that they were given undue abilities like the aim assist and the ability to see through walls. One of the affected players had to hurriedly leave the match after discovering that he had been hacked.
Respawn reacted by postponing the event pending investigation and possible solutions. Subsequently, clips of people being hacked started spreading online. An X account called Anti-Cheat Police Department said the hacker probably used an RCE (Remote Code Execution) exploit to disrupt the ALGS event.
In an interview with TechCrunch, the perpetrator, Destroyer2009, said the target was pro players Genburten and Imperialhal because “they’re just nice guys”. Destroyer2009 further insinuated that the hacking will bring them free attention and views.
Justifying the hack and also showing that he had no malicious intent, Destroyer2009 said, “Just imagine if it wasn’t a joke and we didn’t put any memes in the cheat, I’m pretty sure you can ruin someone’s career if they had a cheat pop up on a tournament”.
In an interview with @TechCrunch
DESTROYER2009 said he targeted Imperialhal and Genburten because “they’re just nice guys.”
Going on to say “Free attention and views for them,”
He also stated : he “went viral, but not many people would have used an exploit like that in an… pic.twitter.com/q21gDjyKsq
— iLootGames – ApexRanked.com (@iLootGames) March 20, 2024
The Anti-Cheat Police Department blamed the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)—the makers of the anti-cheat system used in Apex Legends and other games—and advised players to avoid any game that makes use of EAC. However, EAC in a tweet said there are no vulnerabilities in its software to exploit.
“We have investigated recent reports of a potential RCE issue within Easy Anti-Cheat,” tweeted Easy Anti-Cheat. “At this time – we are confident that there is no RCE vulnerability within EAC being exploited. We will continue to work closely with our partners for any follow-up support needed.”
Despite the damage that the ALGS hacking event has caused, Destroyer2009 said that players have nothing to worry about because he doubts others will figure out what vulnerability he exploited before it gets patched.
However, an X user with the handle @Eigengeistt claimed all the players knew about the hack and had planned it with Destroyer2009 to make a statement about the unending cheating in the game. The idea was to escalate it with the ALGS and get Respawn to act.
Plot twist: all three of them knew about it and had agreed on the incident because everyone is fed up with the ever ongoing cheating situation and hooked up with Destroyer2009. What better place to escalate the situation than at an ALGS event, forcing EA/Respawn into a public…
— Eigengeist (@Eigengeistt) March 20, 2024
Online game cheat maker Interwebz shutdown
Interwebz which is a famous provider of Call of Duty cheat announced on Wednesday, March 20, that it was shutting down existing services. In the announcement, Interwebz said they received legal notice to take down their cheats and website. The announcement which was shared by CharlieINTEL read:
“We recently have received a legal notice regarding our products, and we have made the decision to comply with the legal notice and end existing services. We know many of our users will be upset about this as they have come to trust our developers and community in the time we have been around. We wish there was another way to deal with this situation, but sadly we don’t have many options available. We thank you for the years of support.”
The reaction following the announcement clearly showed that many Call of Duty fans were fed up with how their software was maliciously used in the game. Call of Duty cheats create unbalanced online matches and often deter new players from participating.
Love how they’re addressing their users as a “community” as if they’re not ruining the actual community these cheaters are trying to be involved in.
— Mark “MΛZΣ” Perozo (@MazezRealm) March 20, 2024
Good, these folks ruin the experience for a vast majority of gamers in the FPS multiplayer genre.
— Marzzman Gaming (@MarzzmanGaming) March 20, 2024
It was not clear who issued the legal notice and if Activision was involved. As all attention turns to Call of Duty Warzone Mobile which launches today March 21, players will hope that other cheat providers will be shut down and the menace won’t reoccur in the mobile version of the game.
