Recently I reported on Apex Legends pro players getting hacked during the Global Series tournament, and now the developer Respawn Entertainment has released a small statement.
This is after Easy Anti-Cheat washed their hands of it, saying basically it's nothing to do with EAC. There were lots of posts all across social media warning people to stay away from any EAC protected game, even with there being zero evidence it was an EAC problem.
The statement from Respawn was posted on X (not even on their Steam page) which reads:
On Sunday, a few professional Apex Legends players accounts were hacked during an ALGS event.
Game and player security are our highest priorities, which is why we paused the competition to address the issue immediately.
Our team have deployed the first of a layered series of updates to protect the Apex Legends player community and create a secure experience for everyone.
Thank you for your patience.
I've verified that as of this update, it does still work just fine on Linux. So for now there should be no problems playing it on Steam Deck and Desktop Linux. Still hoping they don't add in EA AntiCheat, which blocks Linux, but you're good for now.
Apex Legends is available on Steam.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Some you may have missed, popular articles from the last month:
10 comments
So it's not EAC's fault and it's also not Apex Legends fault? Or... how is this message supposed to be interpreted? Doesn't seem like an admission of fault, more like Respawn saying "we're just gonna fix some stuff don't worry about it oh also some people were hacked or whatever probably random and unrelated dw gyze lol"
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: dpanterSo it's not EAC's fault and it's also not Apex Legends fault? Or... how is this message supposed to be interpreted? Doesn't seem like an admission of fault, more like Respawn saying "we're just gonna fix some stuff don't worry about it oh also some people were hacked or whatever probably random and unrelated dw gyze lol"Reads like it was a problem in Apex they're patching to me.
6 Likes, Who?
Quoting: dpanterSo it's not EAC's fault and it's also not Apex Legends fault? Or... how is this message supposed to be interpreted? Doesn't seem like an admission of fault, more like Respawn saying "we're just gonna fix some stuff don't worry about it oh also some people were hacked or whatever probably random and unrelated dw gyze lol"
This soon after the hacks they are NOT going to actually detail what happened for fear of more breaches lol.. will be a long while before anyone knows what actually happened.. in a closed source project like AA/AAA games you never want to exposed known vulnerabilities due to not wanting to be attacked more.
In the Open source world we expose them to get the community involved in fixing it and/or just projecting the community
Last edited by tohur on 20 March 2024 at 11:37 am UTC
1 Likes, Who?
TruckStopSantaClaus Mar 20
I kinda expected this to be a false flag to put in EA anti cheat. This is as close to them admitting that yes, it was an old exploit from the Source engine they never patched we're going to get.
1 Likes, Who?
OT, but I get real Blade Runner vibes from their choice of typeface for the announcement.
2 Likes, Who?
Was it already confirmed that the players were not "hacked" by their cheat software?
0 Likes
EagleDelta Mar 20
Quoting: Liam DaweQuoting: dpanterSo it's not EAC's fault and it's also not Apex Legends fault? Or... how is this message supposed to be interpreted? Doesn't seem like an admission of fault, more like Respawn saying "we're just gonna fix some stuff don't worry about it oh also some people were hacked or whatever probably random and unrelated dw gyze lol"Reads like it was a problem in Apex they're patching to me.
They are not going to say what it was until they 100% know what it is. I've worked for InfoSec companies and PirateSoftware is a good follow on this being that he's in both GameDev and Offensive Security. He clarifies that in the cases of hacks like these, it is unprofessional and irresponsible to claim things like "It's an RCE in X" before investigation is complete. He watched the videos and laid out that based on the evidence at the time, it could be an RCE in Apex/EAC OR it could be a Server bug being exploited OR it could be the hacked players having compromised systems OR something unknown.
Even with additional evidence, that evidence still doesn't clarify the cause. In fact, it implies that there could be more than one exploit or vulnerability involved.
In InfoSec, you NEVER claim what the cause was until you can 100% prove it.
1 Likes, Who?
EagleDelta Mar 20
Quoting: poiuzWas it already confirmed that the players were not "hacked" by their cheat software?
This much is a known quantity at this point.
0 Likes
I love this game, the mix of strategy and tactic in the coordination with the two other players (not the mess as in CS and other of these types of online FPS), and (remembering the forces of unreal tournament series) the fluid and nervous gameplay with the lowest pause and waiting time, the variety of guns and characters, and their true respective gameplay that are well balanced (no advantage to be be stealth sniper, infighting or rusher, all can be played and won).
BUT, clearly, we have regularly (every ~3 months, for one week) waves of cheaters and kiddos that have paid for such cheat. These cheats include (mostly) more rapid movement, (second) aiming (less problematic, as, in this game, you need multiple bullets to be killed and you move in team while cheaters are alone against 3 dudes that can fight back). The real boring cheat would be if player can add more life point (and being reasonable, it would be not notified), but never felt that yet.
BUT, clearly, we have regularly (every ~3 months, for one week) waves of cheaters and kiddos that have paid for such cheat. These cheats include (mostly) more rapid movement, (second) aiming (less problematic, as, in this game, you need multiple bullets to be killed and you move in team while cheaters are alone against 3 dudes that can fight back). The real boring cheat would be if player can add more life point (and being reasonable, it would be not notified), but never felt that yet.
0 Likes
looks like at least cheats A and C could be solved by server-side verification instead of deploying more aggressive local anticheat
if you move faster than possible, then you moved faster than possible, pretty damn straightforward (though deploying such calculations in a game that wasn't designed for it may be a PITA)
life points and damage can be entirely handled server-side or just doublechecked, no biggie either...
Last edited by Marlock on 21 March 2024 at 9:46 pm UTC
if you move faster than possible, then you moved faster than possible, pretty damn straightforward (though deploying such calculations in a game that wasn't designed for it may be a PITA)
life points and damage can be entirely handled server-side or just doublechecked, no biggie either...
Last edited by Marlock on 21 March 2024 at 9:46 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
Patreon
PayPal
See more from me