LCK DDoS attacks explained: LoL’s South Korea servers under fire
Riot GamesThe LCK has been dealing with DDoS attacks during professional matches that have caused match delays, forced the league to stop live match play, and even caused certain teams to be unable to scrim. Here is everything we know about the attacks.
During Week 6, the LCK was forced to move to playing matches offline and pre-recording them due to various DDoS attacks affecting stage matches.
Players consistently complained of latency issues, resulting in hours upon hours worth of pauses over single sets. It was a rough time for the LCK leading up to the league’s tough decision to cancel in-person matches for a time.
LCK officials have been tight-lipped on details as to how close they are to finding the people DDoSing these matches, likely due to a desire not to tip off these offenders.
Here is everything we know about the DDoS attacks on the LCK and their impact on the league.
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The first LCK DDoS attack
The LCK was hit with continuous DDoS attacks on February 25, 2024, in a Week 6 matchup between Dplus KIA and DRX. The match was able to conclude, however, the league decided to postpone, and eventually pre-record the second match of the day.
The league then tried to continue with live matches to complete the week’s slate, however, they were attacked again during T1’s match. The LCK then announced that it would switch to pre-recording its matches for the remainder of Week 6.
The league also refunded league ticket holders who were hoping to catch the league’s matches in person.
LCK returns to live matches
The league announced on March 4 that it would be moving toward returning to live match play, albeit slowly, starting with returning to the stage without a crowd.
“A complete shutdown of the LCK would impact teams, players, fans, sponsors, viewers, streamers, journalists, LCK staff, and countless others in the ecosystem. We believe this is exactly what the criminals behind these DDoS attacks are hoping for. When one method is blocked, they find other ways to attack so it is hard to predict what will happen in advance. But whatever the case may be, we will find a solution,” LCK Secretary General Aiden Lee said in a statement to fans on March 4.
The league returned to live play on March 13 without a live audience for its Week 8 matches. To guard against future DDoS attacks, the LCK added an offline game server to LoL Park that cannot be influenced by external attacks.
The league revealed on March 15 that the DDoS attacks have continued since its return to live matches, but their protective measures have worked and games have not been delayed. Fans were allowed back into the arena on March 20 for the final week of games.
T1 and Faker targeted by DDoS attacks
The attacks did not stop there, however, as T1 and its players were still being targeted by DDoS attacks. According to the team’s manager, members of T1 had been targeted while streaming League games to fans and during practice sessions.
“We have tried several methods to minimize the damage caused by the DDoS attacks by reducing the streaming hours and operating flexibly. However, the DDoS attacks still affected the players’ condition and their practice. With that said, T1 made the call that the T1 LoL team will no stream for the time being starting [March 20]. It was a difficult decision as some of the partnership obligations for the streaming contracts will not be met — But it was the right choice in maintaining our players’ conditions and time management,” Jeong ‘Becker’ Hoi-yoon, T1’s general manager, said.
The problem, however, has continued to persist and impact T1’s practice and stage performance. After T1 lost 3-0 to HLE in the LCK Spring Playoffs, Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok said the attacks have led the team to deteriorate in form.
The team has had to play solo queue on secret accounts that are not as highly rated as their main accounts, and teams have opted to not scrim against T1 so as to not have their practice time wasted by a sudden DDoS attack.
So far, the attackers have yet to be apprehended and T1 have not found a suitable solution to return their practice to normal.
This article will be updated as more information comes out.
