In GTA Online, chaos has broken out. With exploits, mod users can ban or damage the accounts of other players. Now, Rockstar Games announces an update.
What issues does GTA Online have?
- On January 20, experts pointed out that there are now significant security issues in GTA Online
- Users of “mod menus” are able to influence other players’ accounts so that they can be banned
- Experts have been warning about logging into GTA Online since then
- In the meantime, the mod admin stated that he has removed the functions from his mod menu
- Now, the support from Rockstar Games is also speaking out and promises a security update
What dangers are there and how are players reacting?
This is how “modders” proceeded: Mod menus in GTA Online can be seen as a type of “hacks.” Such hacks are particularly common in the PC version of GTA Online. Players can use these menus to make money rain from the sky, make themselves immortal, spawn special vehicles like sex limousines or transformers, or simply take out the entire lobby at the push of a button.
Often, users of mod menus negatively stand out by ruining the gaming experience for others. Since GTA Online became free, the problem has become even greater.
However, for a few days now, modders are not just ruining the gaming experience, but can also incapacitate entire accounts. How long this has been possible is unclear. In recent days, the function has spread like wildfire.
The problem: Many players have not even realized that there are currently huge security gaps in the online world of Grand Theft Auto 5. The number of players has remained nearly constant over the last 7 days, as can be seen in the following graphic:
The consequences: If you are “lucky” as a victim, you simply cannot log into GTA Online anymore. There is already a solution for this.
If you are unlucky, your account may be marked for a kind of “unsportsmanlike behavior.” This marks players who behave poorly online and then only places them in lobbies with other players who have also been marked this way. In Call of Duty, this is called a “shadow ban”.
If you’re really unlucky, your account can be banned because another player wants it that way with a mod menu.
Rockstar Games announces security update
This is new: On January 24, about 4 days after the warning from experts about GTA Online, the support of Rockstar Games published a tweet. It states:
“We are aware of possible new vulnerabilities in GTA Online for PC that we want to address with a planned security update.
If you believe you have had related problems, please contact Rockstar Support.”
No further details about the upcoming update have been given so far. In the meantime, the creator of the mod menu has already spoken out and admitted that adding these functions to his menu was a “bad idea”. He has now removed these functions from his mod menu.
However, if the security vulnerability is still open and a mod menu was able to exploit it, online players may still be at risk if other menus or hackers continue to exploit it.
We advise against playing GTA Online on PC before the security update from Rockstar Games.
