On Sunday, March 17th, a major tournament in Apex Legends was supposed to take place. However, EA had to cancel the online tournament after 2 professional players were hacked live during the tournament and called for help: they were using cheats against their will. The responsible hacker Destroyer2009 is now giving an interview to a tech magazine and explaining the background.
This was the situation: We reported on MeinMMO on March 18th about the hack:
- EA had to cancel the finals of the NA Pro League Splits in Apex Legends because the competitive integrity was compromised. The event had a prize pool of over $5 million.
- Players called live during the broadcast: “I am cheating right now” and helplessly raised their hands. A hacker had activated aimbots and wallhacks for them. It affected 2 prominent professional players: Genburten and ImperialHal.
- It was an embarrassment for Apex Legends and EA. There were even fears that the cyber security of the players was at risk. Observers said: That’s why such events usually take place in a LAN setting on-site.
Hacker didn’t report vulnerability because EA doesn’t offer a “Bug Bounty Program”
This is what the hacker says: In an interview with the US site Techcrunch , the hacker Destroyer2009 has actually commented on the incident. It was clear that he was behind the hack, as he had signed his hack: “Apex Hacking global series, by Destroyer2009 & R4ndom,” a message that the chatbot displayed.
He says he did it “just for fun” and to force Apex Legends to fix the system vulnerabilities.
According to the hacker, he did not report the vulnerability directly to the developer Respawn because neither the developer nor Electronic Arts offered a program that rewards hackers or researchers for reporting bugs, a so-called “Bug Bounty Program.”
A bit passive-aggressively, he says: “So they know how to fix problems without anyone pointing them out.”
He then explains to the tech site that he does not want to go into the details of the hack until all security holes have been closed. The hack had nothing to do with the servers, and Destroyer2009 did not directly attack the players’ PCs.
From his perspective, the whole thing could have ended much worse if he had wanted: “Imagine if this was not a joke and we hadn’t put memes in the chat. I’m pretty sure you can ruin someone’s career if a cheat suddenly appears in the middle of the tournament.”
Hacking victims are “nice guys,” “deserve the views”
Why did it specifically affect the 2 professionals? The hacker says he specifically targeted Genburten and ImperialHal because they are “just nice guys” – and one wishes them “free attention and views.”
Should regular players be worried? According to the hacker, no. He doubts that others would find the vulnerability he used.
This is not the first time that a game from Electronic Arts has been targeted by hackers. We have already reported on MeinMMO in January 2022 about a hacker attack on the hugely popular and lucrative football simulation FIFA:
After hacker attacks in FIFA 22: This is how EA aims to protect your accounts now
