$5 million Apex Legends tournament destroyed – Hacker reveals: 'It was just for fun'

He hacked a huge eSports event. The pirate said he was still merciful. He wanted to draw attention to the problems, and besides, it was “just fun.”

HAMBURG – In the popular video game Apex Legends, the grand finale had to be one thing Electronic sports tournament With a prize pool of $5 million it will be cancelled. Hackers invited streamers to vote for Putin and turned honest players into cheating cheaters. In the interview, one of the cyber attackers showed no remorse, but had at least two answers to the “why” question.

Hacker in interview: He destroyed 5 million e-sports tournaments – he says it is “just for fun”

• In March 2024 prestigious E-sports-It happened “compromise“, organizers said later. The Apex Legends Global Series (ALGS) has a $5 million prize pool waiting for the top players.
• “No one got the money because the hackers destroyed it.”just for fun“The event has been postponed indefinitely.
• Hackers secretly distributed cheats to unwitting event participants with the push of a button — so at least two Apex Legends pros were suddenly able to see through walls (wallhack) or get perfect headshots automatically (aimbot).
• This unfair advantage was broadcast live – and suddenly the professional cheaters themselves screamed that they had just been hacked and did not cheat on purpose.
• Since then, some players are afraid to start the popular first-person shooter Apex Legends – because they will be banned for using cheats.
• In the public stream, messages like “Putin is elected” On. Disaster on the eSports scene, now one of the hackers responsible is speaking out about his motives.

The hacker confesses: Two hackers are said to be responsible for the hack at the ALGS event. Their fighting names are Destroyer2009 and R4ndom. The first gave an interview to the American magazine TechCrunch on March 20, 2024 and admitted to committing the crime.

When asked why, the hacker has two answers: “It was just for fun“, is one of the statements of Destoyer2009. Another motive is a reminder to stingy game developers.

Imagine if it wasn't a joke and we didn't include memes in the cheats. I'm sure you could ruin someone's career if cheating came up during a tournament.

The self-confessed hacker unironically says he was truly innocent when he committed his crime and that he would not have hurt anyone. If it had been done this way, things would have been much worse. By the way, this is how the professional reacted to the hack that turned him into an evil cheater:

The hackers saw no alternative: no money to report vulnerabilities, so the attack occurred

The second reason for a cyber attack: Since there was no reward for reporting vulnerabilities, the hacker didn't know what else to do to draw attention to the problems, as the interview stated: “They probably already know how to correct it without reporting it“.

The reason the hacker sought out the big stage and had to blow up the tournament final with $5 million in prize money is said to be the fault of EA and Respawn themselves. These are the publisher and developers behind the Apex Legends video game. That was last year The same eSports event is still celebrated.

Are Apex players in danger? According to the hacker, it's not that bad. Because except for him and his partner, no one will know how game bugs can be exploited in this way, so there is no risk to Apex Legends.

Players shouldn't worry

Since the event, there has been massive media interest in the hack, and many Apex Legends players fear that they will suddenly be labeled as cheaters even mid-game. If such unauthorized cheating is detected, the player's account will be banned. According to developer Respawn, they are working on solutions.

Apex Legends' security team promised on March 19 that they had taken the first steps to “create a safe environment for everyone,” he says. x/twitter. A whole series of updates will follow. In online video games Cheaters are one of the biggest problems.