Rockstar Games Struck by DDoS Attack

Rockstar Games, the studio renowned for iconic franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption, recently fell victim to a series of DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks that disrupted the online services of several of its titles. These attacks coincided with the release of a new update for Grand Theft Auto Online.

In the patch notes for the September 17 update of GTA Online, Rockstar announced the integration of BattlEye Anti-Cheat into the game’s online mode, nearly 11 years after its initial launch. This move was part of Rockstar’s ongoing commitment to protect the gaming community from cheating, a longstanding issue within GTA Online. While many players would typically welcome such an enhancement, the addition of BattlEye resulted in the loss of Steam Deck compatibility, leading to dissatisfaction among some fans and prompting them to retaliate with cyberattacks against the company.

According to content creator and leaker Mors Mutual Insurance, a group opposing the BattlEye implementation utilized a botnet to target Rockstar's authentication servers, launching DDoS attacks that limited the performance of servers for both GTA Online and Red Dead Online. Another user noted that BattlEye's website also went down around the same time Rockstar’s servers were affected. Mors Mutual indicated that a different party was responsible for the attack on BattlEye's site, with their name referencing an insurance company from GTA 5.

September 2024 Cyberattacks on Rockstar Games

In a FAQ section, Rockstar clarified that the Steam Deck does not support the specific version of BattlEye used in GTA Online. Valve previously stated in a blog post that developers need only reach out to BattlEye to enable the anti-cheat solution on Proton, which allows Windows applications to run on Linux devices like the Steam Deck without requiring user modifications. Notably, several titles that employ BattlEye, such as ARK: Survival Evolved, DayZ, and Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, have already been successfully run on Valve’s handheld device, with ARK even being part of the list of Steam Deck verified games.

In addition to introducing BattlEye, the recent update for GTA Online also fixed several bugs, including one that caused player crashes and another that hindered users from accepting invites or joining others in-game.