Faker's League of Legends team the latest victim of DDoS attack

A recent spate of cyber attacks has affected League of Legends Champions Korea, resulting in restrictions on audiences and streaming availability.

T1's Faker speaks at the opening day of the 2024 League of Legends Champions Korea Spring Split at LCK Arena in central Seoul on Jan. 10. [YONHAP]

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T1, the Esports team with star player Faker, became the latest victim of cyber terror looming over the industry when a 2024 League Championship Series match was interrupted multiple times last month at LCK Arena in central Seoul.

The interruptions were caused by denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks from a yet-to-be-identified entity, hampering the burgeoning industry strongly reliant on the fervor of its fans, who flock to stadiums to witness the game on site.

League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) initially resorted to a recorded broadcast, and the games were held at a random time and place to avoid potential attacks.

On Monday it was announced that it will begin to livestream the matches at a designated time — still without an audience — from Wednesday.

“The games from the eighth week of the spring season will be livestreamed as scheduled, 5 p.m. on weekdays and 3 p.m. on weekends, but without an audience,” LCK said via social media.

The competition host began experiencing DDoS attacks from the fifth week of the 2024 season on Feb. 25, during the second match between DRX and Dplus KIA. The game was halted eight times and it took seven hours to finish the three matches.

The attacks continued, affecting gameplay between T1 and FearX on Feb. 28, halting the first match multiple times. The second was transitioned to a recorded broadcast without an audience. Fans on-site had to leave the stadium during the game.

T1 defeated FearX by 2-0, but T1’s Faker lamented the faulty system for depriving fans of the full enjoyment of watching the games.

“It was okay on our part because we have experienced interruptions during matches before,” Faker told media outlets. “But we are sorry that fans couldn’t witness our second match. I believe that this predicament will be resolved someday, and hope that it will become an opportunity [for the organizers] to improve the system.”

DDoS attacks initially began occurring on Naver’s livestreaming platform Chzzk as multiple streamers experienced disconnections from last December. The attacks spread over to the League Championship Series from Feb. 25, with the organizers and the investigative agency failing to pinpoint the culprit behind the disruptions.

LCK Secretary General Lee Jung-hoon made a formal apology on March 4, adding that the attacks directed at the company differed both in pattern and scale from the initial attacks targeting streamers.

‘We began investigating the attacks on the streamers immediately after they occurred, and we took steps to report the attacks on LCK to the relevant authorities and law enforcement immediately after it happened as we believed that these attacks were clear criminal acts,” Lee said. “We are working with Riot Games' global teams, relevant departments, and internal and external experts to analyze the cause of the attack and apply countermeasures.”

Lee promised step-by-step measures that will eventually lead to normalization.

LCK plans to transition from livestreaming games without an audience to allowing an audience at LoL Park in central Seoul by the end of the month.

The 2024 spring season will wrap up on March 24, and the upper six teams will move on to the play-offs from March 30.

“We plan to completely normalize the game livestreams by the final week of the spring split, before the play-offs begin,” Riot Games spokesperson said.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]