A worrying update has been provided by League of Legends after they had announced earlier this week that the next update will be delayed owing to a social engineering attack. Hackers demanded $10 million from League of Legends developer Riot Games after stealing the game’s source code.
A ransom email was sent to the League of Legends developers, Riot Games. The email stated: “Dear Riot Games. We have obtained your valuable data, including the precious anti-cheat source code and the entire game code for League of Legends and its tools, as well as Packman, your usermode anti-cheat. We understand the significance of these artifacts and the impact their release to the public would have on your major titles, Valorant and League of Legends. In light of this, we are making a small request for an exchange of $10,000,000.”
In addition to this, the email also stated the intentions of the hackers. “We do not wish to harm your reputation or cause public disturbance. Our sole motivation is financial gain. Failure to do so will result in the hack being made public and the extent of the breach being known to more individuals,” it said. The ransom note put forth a deadline of 12 hours for Riot Games.
Evidence provided
The hackers gave Riot Games two huge PDFs as proof, claiming they would demonstrate their access to Packman and the League of Legends source code. These files seem to display folders connected to the game’s code. As stated in the ransom message, the hackers offered to remove the code from their servers in exchange for payment. They also stated that they would give insights into how the intrusion occurred and offer guidance on avoiding potential breaches in the future.
The hackers stated Riot Games could contact them using a Telegram channel. They provided a link to that chat in their message. The channe’s members contained usernames that corresponded to Riot Games staff members’ names.
Riot Games originally tweeted about the news of a compromise last week. Riot Games described the breach as a “social engineering attack,” albeit its precise nature was unknown. It said that there was no evidence that user data had been impacted. Riot Games tweeted on Tuesday that it had proof that hackers had stolen the source code for many games. These include Teamfight Tactics, League of Legends, and its “legacy” anticheat engine. “we received a ransom email. Needless to say, we won’t pay,” they announced on another tweet.
The hackers added in their ransom note: “We also want to remind you that it would be a shame to see your company publicly exposed, especially when you take great pride in your security measures. It is alarming to know that you can be hacked within a matter of hours by an amateur-level hack.”
While this news is definitely fear-inducing, Riot Games appears to have the situation under control and are working towards eliminating the hack. We will soon get an update on the same.
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