Siege players beset by hackers posting chicken photos and other weird images on top of their screens

Who's chicken is this?

An operator prepares to use a sledgehammer on a house in Rainbow Six Siege.
Image via Ubisoft

Playing Rainbow Six Siege requires a great deal of concentration due to the vertical nature of the maps, the emphasis on hiding and holding angles, and all the different gadgets that can disrupt your attacking or defensive efforts.

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But a recent trend has made it even harder to focus, with hackers discovering a way to post silly memes and even some NSFW images directly onto players’ screens in the middle of a match or clutch, sometimes multiple times during a single round.

Numerous Siege content creators and streamers have been beset by images of chickens, weird Twitter memes, and other random and sometimes inappropriate images. While this is certainly one of the more unique and sometimes somewhat funny hacks, an inappropriate picture appearing on screen during a game could cause issues for those streaming on Twitch or YouTube.

The issue appears to be caused by hackers who have found a way to exploit the global ban notifications. During Siege gameplay, the anti-cheat program working in the background will post a global notification when it has banned an account, sometimes in a wave. Hackers have figured out a way to manipulate the notification when it appears during a match they’re in, affecting all players by showing whatever weird image they’ve selected over their main screen.

Players are able to turn off global ban notifications via the HUD section of their settings page, which will prevent the images from being shown. Ubisoft has not publicly remarked on the exploit just yet.

Author
Image of Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.