Apex Legends creators are warning players and pros alike to uninstall the Respawn Entertainment battle royale and its anti-cheat software today after pro players ImperialHal and Genburten were hacked live during the North American Split One ALGS Regional Finals.
The live Apex hacks, which have never been seen before in the ALGS, hit two of the most prominent pro players, both of whom were streaming when the incident occurred. Confusion and panic quickly spread through the community due to the highly publicised nature of the attack. Creators on X (formerly Twitter) have urged players to delete Apex and any connected anti-cheat software until further notice—and many are already following that advice believing it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Popular anti-cheat profile “Anti-Cheat Police Department” immediately posted on X to spread awareness about potential threats from the attack, which is now under Respawn investigation. Due to the nature of the hacking and the context in which it was implemented, it is possible that RCE (remote code execution) was used via malware within the ALGS server, though whether access was through Apex, its items, or its Easy Anti-Cheat system is unclear.
While the ACPD’s warning on X was directed at professionals, whom the profile urged to “take immediate measures to protect your personal information,” other Apex players have already confirmed they will be uninstalling the game and its associated programs.
Head moderator for LVNDMARK_TV and known gaming-related cybersecurity expert LogicalSolutions also shared advice after the hacks, instructing all Apex players to uninstall the battle royale until EA releases its statement. Other creators, like streamer TiffaJessi, echoed this same advice around the same time, reiterating that gamers should uninstall the Respawn game until further notice and confirming they had already done so.
So far, many members of the Apex community have followed this advice, particularly in the absence of any official statement from Electronic Arts, Respawn, any of the official Apex Legends social media accounts, or the EAC. Until reassurance and an explanation for the unprecedented attack are given, this trend is likely to continue.
Some Apex fans have even gone as far as performing clean operating system reinstalls to protect their EA accounts and PCs further, according to social media posts.
Update on March 18 at 11:51am CT: Easy Anti-Cheat has assured players that the devs are “confident” there’s no inherent exploit within the anti-cheat software. If this claim holds true, it would suggest the vulnerability being exploited is native to Apex Legends and isn’t necessarily an EA-wide security breach.
