Hacker Of Source Code Leakers Riot Games Asks To Ask For IDR 149 Billion!

The perpetrator of hacking Riot Games asked for a ransom (photo: Riot games)

JAKARTA - Some time ago, Riot Games published a statement containing information about a cyberattack that attacked its development system.

As a result of this attack, the studio had to delay the launch of new content for League of Legends and Teamweight Tatics. Although data and anti-cheat client source code in the game have been hacked, the studio assured that user information was leaked.

In a recent thread posted by Riot, the game development studio said that the hacker behind the attack demanded a ransom of US$10 million or Rp149 billion and Riot refused to pay.

As promised, we wanted to update you on the status of last week’s cyber attack. Over the weekend, our analysis confirmed source code for League, TFT, and a legacy anticheat platform were exfiltrated by the attackers.1/7 https://t.co/IogE05HaD1

— Riot Games (@riotgames) January 24, 2023

"Today, we received a ransom email. Not to say, we will not pay. Even though this attack disrupts our building environment and could cause problems in the future, most importantly we remain confident that no player data or player personal information has been compromised," he wrote.

According to Boris Larin, Lead Security Researcher at the Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis (GReAT) Team, the existence of this incident should be a major concern for the company.

"This is the company's main concern because the source code is the main target of cybercriminals when attacking the modern game industry," said Larin.

According to him, once attackers gain access to game source code, they can easily learn all game functions and game servers, learn game logic, secret algorithms, and anti-cheat technology, which allow them to find vulnerabilities, create cheats and bots, and achieve wealth by selling tools fraudulently or by mining and selling currencies in the game, as well as damaging the experience of other players.

Kaspersky also appreciated the company that decided not to pay the ransom. Because according to them, paying the ransom will not guarantee the return of stolen files.

"Paying ransom does not guarantee a safe and reliable file return, and it only encourages malware makers to continue operations, thereby increasing potential reputation and financial risks," explained Larin.

In addition, following the rules of cybercriminals is not a good idea and only increases the potential for reputation and financial risks going forward.