Hackers try to sell LoL source code for $700,000 on the web

Last month, Riot Games suffered a cyberattack that stole source code for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT) and an anti-cheat platform. In a statement, the developer admitted the situation and that the hackers asked for a ransom of US$ 10 million, but that it would not pay. On Wednesday (8), the case gained a new chapter, with the hackers in question putting the stolen data up for sale on the underground internet market for US$ 700,000, according to the website Esports Heaven.

After revealing the theft of the source codes, Riot admitted the risk of creating new cheat programs. If they received the requested amount, the hackers had informed that they had deleted the stolen data and would not disclose it.

The Esports Heaven report says that 72,000 files were stolen, with a total of 72.4 GB in size. The file is being sold by a user with the codename Arkat_001. The attack in question was carried out through social engineering. According to the article, the hackers had access to the developer's system by sending an SMS to an employee, thus obtaining the security credentials of a company director.

Also according to Esports Heaven, the hackers' goal would initially be to access the source code of Vanguard, the anti-cheat software of theValorant game. However, before they got the files, the attackers would have been kicked out of the system.

Riot said no user data was leaked, but the Esports Heaven story says the hacker selling the file says he gained access to players' sensitive information, such as their email addresses. It is worth remembering that LoL is one of the most popular online games in the world, with millions of players who may have been affected by the attack. So, if you are looking for another entertainment alternative until the dust settles, you can check out the sites with no deposit casino bonuses listed by casinos.info. These gaming platforms include dozens of games and even allow you to have fun without spending anything at the beginning with the no deposit bonus coupons. The games included in these operators range from casino classics, such as roulette and poker, to slot machines, bingo and jogo do bicho.

More cheat?

With the episode in question, Riot had to admit the risks of having more cases of cheating in League of Legends based on the data obtained. LoL developer and studio head Andrei "Meddler" claimed they are preparing for this.

“Any source code exposure can increase the likelihood of new cheats emerging. Since the attack, we've been working to assess its impact on anticheat and prepare to roll out patches as quickly as possible if needed," the company said in a series of Twitter posts.

On Reddit, the head of the sector responsible for LoL, TFT and the mobile Wild Rift commented that there is a “significant” risk to the increase in the number of cheats in games.

“To be honest, there is some significant risk of additional cheating happening (or at least being attempted) when things like this happen. One bright spot is that, as we briefly mentioned in that video a week or two ago, updating the anti-cheat with a new system was something we wanted to do anyway in 2023. We'll try to speed up this work due to all this," he wrote.

When reporting the leak, the company reported that the stolen data even includes some new features that have been tested for the platform and have not yet been made available to the public. This includes some game modes and changes that may or may not make it to players in the future, and which would be in a prototype format. Also according to Riot, there is a study of the systems by external consultants and security teams.