GTA Online PC players’ data appears to be severely compromised as cheaters can now break their game. On January 21, popular industry insider Tez2 reported on Twitter that new exploits have been found in GTA Online that allow hackers to permanently corrupt players’ account data.
The incident came to light courtesy of @HarryGotTaken after Rockstar released a new weekly update for the game on January 19, 2022. The details of the report provided by Tez2 can be found below.
GTA Online PC players need to stay alert amid reports of game-breaking exploits
#GTAOnline PC High Alert⚠️New extreme exploits have surfaced that allow cheaters to remotely add/remove/change your stats and permanently destroy your account, aka ban/delete. Please avoid playing without a firewall rule or playing at all!🚨Thank you @HarryGotTaken to notify.
As can be seen in the tweet above, Tez2 shared that the new exploits could ruin the experience for other GTA Online players. According to their research, cheaters can now do the following to PC players:
- Add/change/remove statistics externally
- Permanently corrupt player account via ban/deletion
Based on the insider’s findings, here’s what the in-game exploits look like:
- Added Players > Account > Ranking
- Added Players > Account > Unlocks
- Added players > Account > Badsport
- Added Players > Account > Corrupt Account
- Added Players > Account > Remove Money
- Created players > Account > Give money (up to $15m. time)
- Added Players > Account > Reset Quest Cooldown
As one can notice, the level of damage these exploits can do is unimaginable as all the in-game data for PC players is now compromised. Tez2 also suggested a possible way to prevent being hacked. According to them, GTA Online players on PC should use a firewall while playing the game.
When the infamous kick-and-crash exploits were found in-game in December 2022, @Speyedr shared some very useful tips for PC gamers to deal with the situation. Here’s how players can once again save their data with a workaround until Rockstar officially gets rid of the new exploits:
- Download Guardian 1.54 Fast Load Fix from Gitlab
- Select Locked session
Please note that this method only works for single players, solo sessions or non-host players in an online session. If one attempts it as a session host, the Guardian will prevent anyone from joining them.
The developers have not acknowledged the existence of these exploits at the time of writing this article. However, a background update is expected to be released soon to address these hacks. Until then, it is advisable not to play the game on a PC without a firewall.
Although hacking or cheating with exploits is nothing new, the type of risk these fresh ones pose is very high. Therefore, fans can expect the developers to address the situation soon.
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