Massive ‘Apex Legends’ Hack Disrupts NA Finals, Raises Serious Security Concerns


Something rather terrifying has disrupted the North American Finals of Apex Legends, and players are now starting to potentially worry about their own accounts and the overall safety of the game.

Respawn and EA have postponed the North American Finals in the wake of the “competitive integrity” of the game being compromised. This involved a wild situation where someone was giving the pros hacks like aimbots and wallhacks as they were playing in the Finals event, effectively ruining the entire thing without anyone actually attempting to cheat. Here’s what that looked like (warning: language):

This shocked players and one even got banned from the game for using an aimbot cheat before Respawn shut the entire thing down.

What’s unclear is the extent of the breach. There is some concern that it might not just be for messing with the pros at the finals, but a larger security issue with the entire game that could affect the wider playerbase. Some creators are claiming on social media that they’ve scanned their PCs and are finding viruses, though there’s so much panic going around there’s no evidence that has to do with this hack. But if the hack could breach a pro match, it would seem to be something that could breach normal players, even if it’s not actually doing so right now. Many believe this is the work of one hacker, Destroyer2009, who has previously been hacking pros, and this was an RCE remote exploit using their PCs, but none of that has been confirmed.

It’s hard to understate just how unprecedented something like this is in a major esports event. A finals event getting put on ice because someone breached the game to give players hacks is simply something that does not happen.

This has led to a mass of complaints about Apex’s anti-cheat systems, which clearly failed in a massive way for this situation. But it also speaks to just how advanced cheats have become as this is a private lobby for pros playing in an esports final.

Not that this is necessarily related, but Respawn was just hit days ago with 23 layoffs including Apex Legends developers, some of whom were longtime veterans. Though if anything, this shows that EA needs to…

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Fujitsu Confirms It Was Hacked Via Malware, Says Probe Ongoing


Fujitsu Limited reported that the attack, which exposed employee and customer information, came from malware that impacted an unspecified number of the company’s work PCs.


Tokyo-based Fujitsu Limited Friday said it suffered a data breach, which resulted in files containing customer information that could have been accessed by unauthorized people.

Fujitsu, in the English translation of an online statement, wrote that it confirmed the presence of malware on several of its work computers, and after an internal investigation, found that “files containing personal information and customer information could be illegally taken out.”

“After confirming the presence of malware, we immediately disconnected the affected business computers and took measures such as strengthening monitoring of other business computers. Additionally, we are currently continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the malware’s intrusion and whether information has been leaked,” Fujitsu wrote.

[Related: 10 Major Cyberattacks And Data Breaches In 2023]

Fujitsu also said it has reported the breach to Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission, and that it has yet to receive reports whether information about the company’s personnel or its customers has been misused.

Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission, the chairman of which is appointed by Japan’s Prime Minister, provides security policies, mediation of complaints, and international cooperation.

So far, based on the statement, it appears that the impact of the breach is limited to Japan, but it could be more widespread.

CRN reached out to Fujitsu for more information, but had not received a response by press time.

Fujitsu is a global electronics and IT manufacturer with 124,000 employees and annual revenue of about $25 billion.

2024 has been a big year for data breaches. The U.S. alone in January saw 336 publicly disclosed security incidents, which according to security provider IT Governance was 7 percent of the world’s total…

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Fujitsu hack raises questions, after firm confirms customer data breach • Graham Cluley


Fujitsu hack raises questions, after firm confirms customer data breachFujitsu hack raises questions, after firm confirms customer data breach

Fujitsu has warned that cybercriminals may have stolen files with personal and customer data after it discovering malware on its computer systems.

The firm at the center of the British Post Office scandal, said in a Japanese press release that it had discovered the presence of malware on its computers, the potential theft of customer data, and apologised for any concern or inconvenience caused.

Fujitsu announcementFujitsu announcement
Announcement published on Fujitu’s Japanese website.

The press release (a Google-translated version can be read here), is somewhat scant on detail.

For instance:

  • Fujitsu doesn’t disclose the malware found, the number of affected computers, or the internal systems or databases accessed.
  • Fujitsu doesn’t specify the type of malware found – a remote access backdoor? ransomware? something else?
  • Fujitsu doesn’t share details about the stolen information, calling it “personal information and customer information.” For instance, does it include contact details, passwords, or payment information?
  • Fujitsu announced on Friday 15 March that it suffered a cyber attack, but didn’t specify when it was discovered or how long the hackers had access to its systems and data.

Fujitsu says it has reported the incident to regulators and will contact affected individuals and customers.

The company also says that it has not seen any reports of the potentially stolen information being misused. Statements like these are meant to reassure affected parties, but they don’t make you feel much more comfortable in reality.

An absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. How could a company ever confidently and honestly claim it has incontrovertible proof that exfiltrated data has not been exploited by malicious hackers and online fraudsters?

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In the past, there have been many incidents where data stolen in a hack has not immediately shown up, before appearing on the dark web months or even years later.


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Scientists Hack Weather Satellite Data to Quantify Methane Leaks


(Bloomberg) — Satellites sitting more than 22,200 miles (35,700 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface have been capturing storms and weather data for decades. Now, scientists have essentially hacked the data coming back for another purpose: spotting methane emissions.

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The innovation could have far-reaching consequences for fossil fuel operators unable or unwilling to halt major methane releases because it allows researchers to observe emissions every five minutes and estimate the total amount emitted. The approach, which uses shortwave infrared observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), can detect large-emitting events of around tens of metric tons an hour or larger.

Satellites observe concentrations of methane from space by analyzing the way sunlight reflects off the Earth. As light passes through a cloud of the gas, its intensity is weakened on certain wavelengths. Methane absorbs light in the short-wave infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Although the GOES system wasn’t built to detect methane, its sensor includes short-wave infrared channels designed to observe things like snow cover and fire hot spots.

The new technique is already being used by geoanalytics firms and scientists to quantify major emissions events in North America. Kayrros SAS used the approach to estimate that a fossil gas pipeline spewed about 840 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere after it was ruptured by a farmer using an excavator. That’s very close to the 50.9 million cubic feet of gas operator Williams Cos. said leaked, which works out to about 900 metric tons of methane. The short-term climate impact of the event was roughly equal to the annual emissions from 17,000 US cars.

Read more: Regulators Probe Why Williams Took More Than an Hour to Halt a Methane Leak

The new approach, which was executed for the first time last year by scientists at Harvard University, enables near continuous, real-time coverage and contrasts with all other satellites currently used to detect methane, which are in low-Earth orbit and snap images as they circumnavigate the…

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