In an unfortunate incident during the Apex Legends Global Series NA Finals, two players were hacked during a match, leading to a delayed continuation of the competition. Initially, Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose from DarkZero suddenly found himself able to see other players through walls, followed by Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen from TSM acquiring an aimbot.
Genburten was hacked during the third match of the day. A Twitch clip shows the moment when the words “Apex Hacking Global Series by Destroyer2009 & R4ndom” are repeatedly typed in the chat, as he realizes he has been cheated and takes his hands off the controls. “I can see everyone!” he says before leaving the match.
ImperialHal was hacked in the subsequent game. “I just got aimbot!” he exclaims in a clip of the moment before explaining, “I can’t shoot.” Although he attempted to continue playing, the match was later aborted.
The volunteers of the Anti-Cheat Police Department have since issued a PSA stating, “There is currently an RCE exploit being exploited in [Apex Legends]”, and that this could be spread through the game itself or its anti-cheat protection. “I would advise against playing games protected by EAC or other EA titles,” they continued.
For tournament players, it was strongly recommended to take protective measures. “It is recommended that you change your Discord passwords and ensure your emails are secure. Also, enable MFA for all your accounts if you haven’t already,” they said. “Conduct a clean reinstall of the operating system as soon as possible. Do not take risks with your personal information, your PC may have been exposed to a rootkit or other malicious software that could cause further damage.”
The remainder of the series has now been postponed, “due to the compromised competitive integrity of this series,” as announced on the official Twitter account. They concluded by saying, “We will share further information soon.”
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