The process for a 21-year-old Australian who single-handedly caused a stir in the world’s currently most successful online game, League of Legends, begins on July 24.
In August 2012, a hacker known as Jason gained access to the North American League of Legends server and thus to, as he claimed, the data of 24.5 million accounts. Riot’s president, Marc Merill, reassured that no payment or billing information was affected but still urged users to change their passwords.
Famous streamer “Phantomlord” kicked from the game live
A year later, in August 2013, the hacker showed himself for the first time. The then-popular streamer James “Phantomlord” Varga lost access to his account live on air. It was then transferred to Brazil, forcing “Phantomlord” to play with lag and with and against Brazilians. This happened despite him being careful with his account information, never giving it to anyone or neglecting his account security in any way. He didn’t have to, as the hacker, known as Jason, had obtained it back in August 2012 and planned to cash in or at least have some fun.
He terrorized chat rooms and forums, transferred the accounts of well-known players to Brazil, and signed as Jason (optionally with the modest additional title God or King). He made a fortune selling skins to players that were no longer available in the game, known as legacy skins.
Twitter account of Riot president taken over
When he also took over the Twitter account of Riot president Marc Merill and caused some trouble by leaking a card game planned by Riot, he likely went too far. Although he allegedly reached an agreement behind closed chat doors with Merill regarding the return of the Twitter account, the police were now on his trail, tracked him down, but allowed him to remain free pending a hearing.
Even during this transitional period, the hacker opened the website LoLIP-op.com, where players could order problems for the accounts of other players. They were either thrown out of the system or harassed with DDoS attacks during important games. This service thrived. Allegedly, the hacker made $1,000 a day from it. When he bragged about his power in the Reddit forum (he liked to consider himself on par with God), the community and some eSports journalists took notice of the “service” and reported it to the police.
The hacker received an internet ban from a judge until his trial began on July 24.
His mother does not see him as a criminal mastermind
The exact circumstances will become clear – at the moment, the statements of the hacker and the Riot employees contradict each other in some important parts, and the sources are not entirely clear. It is said that the hacker acted alone and on his own at least at times. Elsewhere, it is discussed that Jason was part of a larger organization, a hacker group, with still unknown members. For his mother, the hacker is not a criminal mastermind with great criminal energy, but rather someone who used information that was freely available on the internet. Some media believe they have at least found partial blame with Riot employees who, after the hack became known, did not change their passwords, allowing “Jason” to gain access to sensitive systems through a backdoor.
Some think he acted out of pure vanity; he himself repeatedly spoke of wanting to point out Riot’s security flaws and to get them to publicly acknowledge them.
According to information from Polygon, the hacker “Jason” is a 21-year-old Australian who lives in a rural village and suffers from Asperger’s syndrome. This is the personality disorder that Jim Parsons chose as the basis for his role as “Dr. Sheldon Cooper” in the series “The Big Bang Theory.”
