Professional League of Legends in Korea has been under attack over the last week-plus, with DDoS attacks affecting the LCK dating back to Feb. 25. These attacks caused matches to be stricken with pauses and single games to last hours beyond their posted in-game timers.
The secretary general of the LCK, Aiden Lee, released a statement on behalf of the league today, apologizing for the inconvenience the attacks have caused, as well as slamming down the gauntlet and laying out the league’s strategy to stop these attacks and return to a state of “normalization.”
The current plan in place is to gradually move back to live broadcasts—at first with no fans in attendance—as soon as the league feels confident in its countermeasures to keep the attackers at bay. “We had hoped to implement it sooner, but realistically, the conditions require more time,” Lee said in his statement. “If no major problems arise in the process, we plan to return to normal as soon as possible so that fans can watch and support their favorite teams on-site. If there are any changes, we will keep you updated.”
This decision to play in an empty arena is likely to keep fans from having to wait in the LoL Park studio for an exorbitant amount of time while league officials attempt to combat DDoS’ers. On Feb. 25, League fans stuck around for all seven hours of a series between Dplus KIA and DRX, which is obviously a situation the LCK rather wouldn’t have repeated.
Starting on Feb. 29, LCK games were moved to a pre-recorded structure that caused teams to play their matches under private circumstances before they were broadcast at a later time to the fans. Still, this wasn’t enough to prevent attempted DDoS attacks in certain scenarios, with the league saying today there were “several attacks” in the pre-recorded environment, but the measures it had in place were enough to prevent the attacks from making a significant impact.
But that’s not to say the LCK doesn’t anticipate the onslaught to carry on. The league is very much aware of the issue, and top brass is in no rush to return to a live environment, where the risk of a successful DDoS attack could cripple yet another LCK broadcast. In the meantime, Riot Korea is working closely with law enforcement to bring the DDoS attackers to justice, calling the disruption a “clear criminal act.”
Finally, the league swatted away any notion of a complete shutdown, saying that “countless” people would be affected if the LCK went on a temporary hiatus and that any pause would effectively give the DDoS attackers a symbolic victory. “When one method is blocked, they find other ways to attack so it is hard to predict what will happen in advance,” Lee said. “But whatever the case may be, we will find a solution. We will do everything we can to make sure the LCK does not stop.”
The next LCK broadcast will begin at 2am CT on March 6, with DRX and BRION set to square off in a pre-recorded match.
