Running into GTA Online hacks often feels like a common occurrence for PC players of the Rockstar multiplayer game. Things appear to be especially bad right now, though, as players are warning of “extreme exploits” that are apparently severe enough for the creator of one of the most popular anti-cheat solutions to suggest players stop playing the game altogether until it’s resolved.
The reports were initially shared by notable GTA Online and Rockstar specialist ‘TezFunz2,’ who says, “New extreme exploits have appeared allowing cheaters to remotely add, remove, or modify your stats and permanently corrupt your account.” Initially, they suggested that players should avoid playing without a firewall, recommending a popular multiplayer tool for avoiding cheaters, or simply not play GTA Online altogether for the time being.
However, advice among the community changed as reports began to suggest that the exploit may allow “partial remote code execution.” Since then ‘Speyedr,’ the creator of the anti-cheat tool, has temporarily disabled access to all builds, explaining that they want to dissuade anyone from attempting to play online. They say, “This exploit is so serious that one wrong setting or action could result in the loss of your account or even your PC files.”
Remote code execution (RCE) attacks allow malicious users to execute code on another person’s computer through exploits in a system such as an online game environment. If these reports are accurate, that means GTA Online hackers could potentially cause problems that extend beyond simply breaking your game account or getting you banned.
Speyedr adds, “Just to reassure everyone, Guardian still works and this new exploit doesn’t somehow bypass Guardian. However, the chance of any user (especially beginners) setting up Guardian incorrectly in a way that doesn’t protect them is too high for such a dangerous exploit.”
At least one notable community account appears to have been hit so far. ‘Mors Mutual,’ a fan who roleplays as the insurance company in the world of Grand Theft Auto, says, “Thought I was safe – looks like I wasn’t and a modder just destroyed my GTA Online data. There goes my online account.” They explain that they now just get a flickering loading screen when attempting to go online, and express hope that Rockstar support is able to restore their progress.
Given the serious nature of these claims, we’d highly urge you to avoid logging into GTA Online on PC for the time being, even in a private lobby, until more information comes out. Rockstar Games has yet to comment on the matter via official social channels, but we have reached out to them and will update the story with any response.
In the meantime, why not check out more of the best open-world games on PC to keep you busy while we wait for more updates? Once things are back up and running, you can check out the best GTA RP servers and find out why roleplaying is so popular. We’ve also got the best GTA 5 mods and all the GTA 5 cheats you could want for the single-player while you wait on news of the GTA 6 release date or any additional information.
