Notorious Apex Legends ALGS hacker returns by invading ImperalHal & Mande’s lobbies

The person known as Destroyer2009, who previously hacked professional Apex Legends players during an ALGS match, has resurfaced towards the end of Season 20 by infiltrating the ranked lobbies of streamers Mikkel ‘Mande’ Hestbek and Phillip ‘ImperialHal’ Dosen.

Mande joined the final day of Apex Legends Season 20 in an attempt to improve his final ranked placement while streaming on May 7. However, his stream was interrupted by the infamous Apex Legends hacker Destroyer2009, who proceeded to hijack Mande’s ranked lobbies.

The hacker joined Mande and his duo partner and rapidly dominated the lobby with multiple bot accounts, all with the same Russian name. It was clear that the match was set up as a kill farm, where one player eliminates numerous bots to artificially improve their ranking.

Mande inquired through the game’s voice chat if the notorious ALGS hacker was present, and Destroyer2009 briefly joined the chat to greet the streamer.

The hacker only played a few games with Mande, either allowing the streamer to eliminate bots or ambushing him with a large group.

The hacker managed to enter ImperialHal’s stream by joining his Apex lobby and using the old account that the player had to abandon after it was hacked during the ALGS match. He requested to play ranked with ImperialHal, but the TSM captain simply wanted some “peace”after his team’s loss at the ALGS LAN.

Destroyer2009 has a history of creating bot armies to attack streamers and pro players during ranked matches, and this is not the first instance of such behavior.

These latest bot lobby hacks have emerged as Respawn and EA continue to address security issues within Apex Legends. Following the ALGS hack, Destroyer2009 informed TechCrunch that he engages in this activity purely for enjoyment.

In an effort to combat cyber attacks, Respawn has implemented enhanced defense measures, including an anti-cheat update mentioned in the Season 21 patch notes. The effectiveness of this update remains to be seen and both players and streamers are eager to see if it will address the issue of hacking in Apex Legends.