The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) 2024 NA Finals was announced to be postponed at this time due to players getting hacked during the event. Read on to learn more about what transpired during the event.
Apex Legends Global Series 2024 Has Been Stopped
[Update] 3/20/2024 Hacking Not Linked to Any EAC Exploit
In response to the hacking incidents, Apex Legends developer Respawn Entertainment issued a statement via its official esports Twitter (X) account. The company acknowledged the severity of the situation and announced the postponement of the North American regional finals. Respawn Entertainment assured the community that it would provide further updates and information regarding the incident as they became available.
Epic Games, the owner of Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC), the anti-cheat software used in Apex Legends, released a statement addressing the situation. The company clarified that the hacking incidents were not linked to any exploit within EAC.
Despite suspicions that EAC could be the source of the issue, Epic Games affirmed that there was no remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability within EAC being exploited. "We have investigated recent reports of a potential RCE issue in Apex Legends, which we have confirmed to be unrelated to Easy Anti-Cheat," stated Epic Games.
The Anti-Cheat Police Department, a volunteer organization specializing in detecting and disrupting cheating vendors, weighed in on the situation. While advising players to take precautions such as changing passwords and implementing additional security measures, the organization highlighted concerns that hackers could exploit RCE to install malicious software beyond cheating tools.
"Currently, the RCE is being abused to inject cheats into streamers machines, which means they have the capabilities to do whatever, like installing ransomware software locking up your entire PC," the Anti-Cheat PD noted in a separate tweet. However, Epic Games has since refuted claims of an EAC vulnerability being exploited in this instance.
Competitive Integrity At Risk
The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) 2024 NA Finals was postponed due to participating players being hacked by a third party during the event. Two cases that were broadcasted on Twitch were TSM’s ImperialHal and DZ’s Genburten whose computers were forcefully injected with an aimbot and wallhack respectively which led to the game’s stoppage.
The hacker in question is named Destroyer2009, who is infamously known for the past few months for taking over games with different types of shooter-based hacks. Although his identity as an infamous hacker has already been known for quite some time now, the level of intrusion that was displayed earlier during the event was astonishing, to say the least, as it seems to have full control over another user’s personal computer which may lead to an even greater security threat than just having an aimbot in the server.
What Happens Now?
The ALGS 2024 NA Finals have been indefinitely postponed due to the "competitive integrity of the series being compromised." More information will be shared later on by the official Apex Legends Esports account.
The players that got affected by the hack were advised to take immediate action to protect their personal information and to conduct a clean OS reinstall as soon as possible. The exploit is known as an RCE (Remote Code Execution) or a code injection, which led to the installation of cheats in both ImperialHal and Genburten’s devices without their consent. This exploit can lead to even worse situations as the hacker can install ransomware to lock their computers.
There has been no official word regarding the origin of the exploit whether it was from the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) or the game’s internal systems, but it would be safe to not touch games that use EAC or any EA titles until the matter is resolved.
Source:
Twitter - Apex Legends Esports
Twitter - Jake Lucky
