The popular video game company said the breach was the result of a social engineering attack and also caused delays in game patch releases. Riot Games said it is yet to find any indication that the attacker stole player data or personal information. However, the developer noted that it is still carrying out its investigation.
Game Development Teams Tell Users to Expect Delayed Patches
Riot Games — headquartered in Los Angeles but owned by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent — has several highly-popular video games, such as League of Legends, Valorant, and Legend of Runeterra, all of which have millions of daily active users. Riot Games informed users about the incident Friday, Jan. 20, on Twitter, also telling them to expect game patch delays. “Unfortunately, this has temporarily affected our ability to release content. While our teams are working hard on a fix, we expect this to impact our upcoming patch cadence across multiple games,” the developer said in a tweet. The League of Legends development team confirmed the incident, adding that it could possibly delay Patch 13.2. “The League team is working to stretch the limits of what we can hotfix in order to deliver the majority of the planned and tested balance changes on time still,” the League of Legends official account tweeted. Teamfight Tactics, another Riot Games title, also issued a similar tweet informing users on what to expect from future patches.
Recent High-Profile Gaming Hacks
Due to their popularity, video games have become a primary target for cybercriminals looking to run malicious campaigns. In March 2022, security researchers discovered a Valorant malware campaign, where the threat actors tricked victims into installing the Redline information stealer. Of course, Riot Games isn’t the only gaming company in the cyber underworld’s crosshairs. In 2021, a hacker breached CD Projekt — renowned for Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher series — and installed ransomware onto the developer’s internal servers. More recently, Rockstar games suffered a breach where the threat actor stole GTA 6 source code and released gameplay videos online. Similar to the Riot Games incident, the Rockstar breach was also thought to stem from a social engineering ploy. In fact, several multinational companies spanning different industries were victims of social engineering attacks in 2022. For active gamers, we recommend reading up on the top malware-ridden games of 2023. The list includes some eye-opening titles, such as Minecraft and Fortnight. Playstation users looking to access blocked content — while also maintaining their anonymity and security from hackers and cybercrooks — can check out the best VPNs for PS4 and PS5.
