I was lying in bed watching the ALGS (Apex Legends Global Series) regional finals for the NA region when a Twitter notification made me sit up and stare at my phone in disbelief. This tweet (or X post) from Apex Legends streamer Apryze showed DZ Pro player Noyan “Genburten” Ozkose getting hacked and granted cheats during the ALGS match. In the middle of drafting this, I received notification of another pro being granted cheats.
Apex Legends Pro hacked mid-ALGS
panic sets in due to cheats getting enabled
Yeah, no kidding. I could not believe my eyes and had my mouth agape. See the clip for yourself in the tweet linked below. You can see Genburten is quick to realize his account is somehow being hacked and cheats have been enabled. The cheats, as shown in the clip, seem to have given the DZ pro wallhacks, i.e. the ability to see the position and names of other players in the lobby through walls or buildings.
We can see the wallhack ability on full display, sending Genburten into full panic mode. Informing his team of the situation, he can be seen shouting, “I’m getting hacked. I’m getting hacked. Bro…I’m getting hacked.” Genburten then decides to leave the game, repeating “I need to leave right,” to maintain competitive integrity. Still, you can hear the worry and pain in Genburten’s voice.
In the middle of drafting this post, I received another notification from Twitter. And it read that TSM Pro player Phillip “ImperialHal” Dosen was also hacked mid-ALGS. In the X post, we can see ImperialHal shouting, “I’m cheating. I’m cheating. I’m cheating. I have aimbot.” The next instant, we can hear his teammate Jordan “Reps” Wolfe repeat, “You gotta leave the game, bro.”
That’s not all. The cheater further mocked the Respawn developers and ALGS for their security. They decided to communicate with Genburten and the spectators via in-game chat during the ALGS match. They said, “Apex Hacking Global Series by Destroyer 2009 and R4ndom.”
If you’re someone who regularly watches Apex players on Twitch, it’s possible that you already recognize Destroyer 2009. This is the same cheater that we’ve seen wreak havoc with speed hacks, wall hacks, and god knows whatnot since the release of Apex Legends Season 20, which brought new legends perks, ring exploit protection, and more to hype players.
At the time of writing, Respawn has acknowledged the cheating problem that cropped up mid-ALGS. They have announced that the ALGS NA finals has been delayed.
Apex Legends, Cheaters, and Game Security
it’s in shambles
Now, before you start smoking Respawn for its negligence towards anti-cheat measures and in-game security (we will come to that later), it’s important to point out a couple of important things.
One, it’s highly unlikely that Genburten or ImperialHal just installed cheats himself or that he cheats in-game. I have been following the Apex Legends competitive scene for as long as the game has been out, and these two are highly regarded and professional players in the scene.
Then, how is this possible?
Moreover, the cheating incident is not isolated. A second cheating incident in the middle of ALGS reveals it’s probably not a phishing attack. There’s some security vulnerability that the hackers are exploiting to enable hacks on other player’s PCs.
Apex Legends Pro and former TSM player Mac Kenzie “Albralelie” Beckwith thinks it’s an RCE exploit (Remote Code execution) that previously laid ruin to popular games like COD 4, BO3, and more. And it’s a serious issue.
And since this happened today, it’s time we talk about the security measures put in place by Respawn. Apex Legends uses Easy Anti-cheat, which has been a thorn in its side, as hackers have been able to bypass its security time and time again.
I know, online security is not easy and is ever-evolving due to new vulnerabilities being discovered. We have even seen the likes of Microsoft and Insomniac get hacked in the last few months. It’s a tug-of-war between the devs pulling hard to patch one loophole to the cheaters finding a new way to bypass the restrictions put in place.
Respawn has a security team in place too, and we recently saw a member of the security team, Conor “Hideouts” Ford, speak out on the same on X (formerly Twitter).
The team is constantly working to better the security in addition to using the Epic-owned EAC system, Ford said. I know, it surely sounds like not enough work has been done if the incidents of today are taken into account, but Hideouts says “substantial” work outside of EAC has been done in the last few months.
Though substantial effort has gone into improving the game’s security, it does not seem to be enough. With a game as popular and vast as Apex Legends, it’s time EA invests heavily into growing the security team instead of trimming down the fat and laying off developers doing good work. The Apex Legends team recently lost 20-odd members.
Well, I’d like to urge EA to stop trying to extract more profits from recolored skins and look to expand the security team to have the anti-cheat issues with the game fixed ASAP.
In this situation, I know pointing fingers is not going to do anyone any good. Yes, there is a glaring security flaw. Yes, the anti-cheat is kind of failing. Yes, the game is unplayable for some. But sending hate to Respawn or the devs is not the solution. The need of the hour for Respawn is to switch gears and actively work to spot the vulnerability and patch it.
Also, as a long-time Apex player and competitive enjoyer, my heart goes out to Genburten and ImperialHal for the situation they found themselves in and how their heart might have leaped out of their chest for a split second. It was heartbreaking to watch, and I wish both of you the very best.
