Riot Games Source Codes Compromised In A Social Engineering Attack

Riot Games fell victim to a social engineering attack this past weekend which led to a breach in its development systems and environment. The studio, however, was quick to assure its game community that no user data or personal information was compromised during the attack. What was affected though was Riot’s ability to release new content, and subsequently its update cadence, for multiple titles.

Upon further investigation, Riot reported that the hackers were able to steal the source code for League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, and a legacy anti-cheat platform. The studio reported that they received a ransom email from the perpetrators but had no intention of giving in to their demands.

“While this attack disrupted our build environment and could cause issues in the future, most importantly we remain confident that no player data or player personal information was compromised,” said Riot.

“Truthfully, any exposure of source code can increase the likelihood of new cheats emerging,” the studio added. “Since the attack, we’ve been working to assess its impact on anticheat and to be prepared to deploy fixes as quickly as possible if needed. The illegally obtained source code also includes a number of experimental features. While we hope some of these game modes and other changes eventually make it out to players, most of this content is in prototype and there’s no guarantee it will ever be released.”

“Our security teams and globally recognized external consultants continue to evaluate the attack and audit our systems. We’ve also notified law enforcement and are in active cooperation with them as they investigate the attack and the group behind it. We’re committed to transparency and will release a full report in the future detailing the attackers’ techniques, the areas where Riot’s security controls failed, and the steps we’re taking to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” the studio concluded.