Cover-Credits:
On 17th March, the Apex Legends pro scene and the game's community was thrown into disarray after a massive hacking incident that affected the battle royale and its competitive integrity big time. At the Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) North America (NA) League Split 1 Finals, some pros faced setback due to a notorious hacker in the Apex Legends community getting access to the tournament's private lobby.
This lead to everyone raising questions about Apex Legends' Easy Anti-Cheat and its integrity and some even pondered if it was a deeper issue at hand. Following this, Respawn Entertainment issued a statement, addressing the hacks and it also announced a new suite of security updates coming to Apex Legends.
Respawn Entertainment Releases Statement about ALGS Hacking Incident
On 20th March, Respawn Entertainment released a statement about the hacking incident that brought ALGS NA League Split 1 Finals to a standstill. It said, "On Sunday, a few professional Apex Legends player accounts were hacked during an ALGS event. Game and player security are our highest priorities, which is why we paused the competition to the 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."
Meanwhile, Apex Legends Esports noted that it is still actively working with its partners at Electronic Arts (EA) and Respawn and is committed to ensuring the security and competitive integrity of its tournaments. It also commented that it does not anticipate changes to the Split 1 Playoffs. "We will have more information to share on the Challenger Circuit and the NA Regional Finals soon. We appreciate your patience," said the game's esports wing.
Earlier, it was reported that the attack on the Apex Legends event could have been an RCE. An RCE, which stands for Remote Code Execution, is a serious hacking technique that allows attackers to remotely run malicious code on a targeted computer or network. They are considerably dangerous as they give attackers a lot of power. They can use the stolen access to install malware, steal data, or even take complete control of the system. This can be disastrous for businesses and individuals alike.
Following Respawn's statement, Twitter account Anti-Cheat Police said there is currently no confirmation that the potential RCE is due to vulnerabilities from game source or EAC
It said, "Respawn deployed a security update, but has not yet released any info about the issue. We have also confirmed the same hacker is involved who spawned bots in streamers games last month. The hackers themselves claim that they did not install harmful malware on the affected streamers pcs."
If you are unaware of what actually happened at the event, pro players Noyan "Genburten" Ozkose and Phillip "ImperialHal" Dosen were hacked and offered different cheats, which caused chaos and ultimately led to the event's suspension.
The hacker, who goes by the name Destroyer2009 and another one called R4ndom, sent the whole system into disarray.
