Players at the Apex Legends Global Series North America finals claimed they had been hacked during the tournament on Monday.
There are speculations that hackers used a remote code execution (RCE) exploit to inject cheats into the game, giving one player the ability to see through their opponents’ positions and another an aimbot. This ultimately forced the organizers to postpone the Apex Legends North America finals.
“Due to the competitive integrity of this series being compromised, we have made the decision to postpone the NA finals at this time,” the Apex Legend esports team announced on X.
Experts have advised gamers who play Apex Legends to take steps to protect their accounts, devices, and personal information. A tool like Surfshark provides comprehensive protection; it hides your IP address, encrypts your traffic, and scans all the files you download in real-time.
Easy Anti-Cheat Denies Vulnerability
There has been widespread speculation that the Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) tool used in the game is the source of the hack, but EAC’s developer has denied this.
“We have investigated recent reports of a potential RCE issue within Easy Anti-Cheat. At this time – we are confident that there is no RCE vulnerability within EAC being exploited. We will continue to work closely with our partners for any follow up support needed,” EAC said on X.
Meanwhile, neither Respawn Entertainment (Apex’s developer) nor Electronic Arts (the game publisher) have commented on what caused the incident.
There’s a possibility that the affected gamers were tricked into installing malicious software and compromising their systems. According to Bitdefender, this is a “much more likely scenario.”
Footage of one of the hacked players’ gameplay was spammed with the words “Apex hacking global series by Destroyer2009 and R4ndom,” leading to speculation that Destroyer2009 is behind the recent hacks. According to Eurogamer, Destroyer2009 has appeared in Apex Legends games recently.
Experts Urge Gamers to Protect Data and Devices
Despite EAC’s statement denying a vulnerability, the Anti-Cheat Police Department, which gathers information about cheats in games, has urged all gamers to avoid playing games that use the service until the issue is resolved. Other popular games, such as Fortnite and Gears 5, also rely on Easy Anti-Cheat.
“Currently, the RCE is being abused to inject cheats into streamers machines, which means they have the capabilities to do whatever, like installing ransomware software locking up your entire PC,” the Anti-Cheat Police Department wrote on X.
The community-run group also outlined ways gamers can protect their data and devices.
“It is advisable that you change your Discord passwords and ensure that your emails are secure. also enable MFA for all your accounts if you have not done it yet perform a clean OS reinstall as soon as possible. Do not take any chances with your personal information, your PC may have been exposed to a rootkit or other malicious software that could cause further damage,” Anti-Cheat Police Department explained.
You can learn more about remote access exploits and how to protect your device in our guide to remote access trojans.
