T1 DDoS issues remain unresolved, sparking community outrage

Supporters of T1 are urging Riot Games to swiftly address the persistent DDoS issues that their team has faced for a long time.

2025’s new year has commenced, and enthusiasts of League of Legends (LoL) are buzzing with excitement about the thrilling developments this year promises. Among these novelties are the introduction of fresh rosters for teams in regional leagues and the inaugural First Stand 2025 tournament, which showcases the Fearless Draft format – a first-ever in League of Legends esports. Despite the influx of new things, an age-old problem persists within the community: the ongoing unresolved Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks that plague T1.

Six days into January 2025, I, as a dedicated gamer and member of T1, received some disappointing news. On that day, our team leadership spoke up about X, revealing that we were putting a temporary halt to our streaming activities. This move came due to the ongoing issue, which despite years of our best efforts in finding solutions, remains unresolved.

After our triumphant win at Worlds 2024, the T1 players have been delighting fans by streaming a diverse range of games – League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics (TFT), and casual titles such as Chained Together, Party Animals, LOCKDOWN Protocol, Raft, and Platform 8. However, due to current circumstances that prevent them from doing so, they are temporarily unable to stream until the situation stabilizes.

Throwback to the T1 DDoS attack in 2024

On February 25, 2024, during the League of Legends Champions Korea (LCK) Group Stage match between DRX and Dplus KIA, the initial significant Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurred. This attack led to eight interruptions, transforming what should have been a best-of-three (Bo3) series into an exhausting seven-hour long contest.

A few days after, on February 28th, the attacks caused another LCK match between T1 and FearX to be disrupted. The initial game was frequently interrupted, leading the LCK to play the second game in a pre-recorded, private setting instead. They also promised ticket refunds to fans impacted by these interruptions.

On March 4, 2024, Lee Jung-hoon, Secretary General of LCK, officially apologized, labeling the recent occurrences as criminal actions. He also verified that these incidents had been reported to the relevant authorities. Moreover, he mentioned that Riot Games, in collaboration with international teams and security specialists, were actively working on implementing protective measures.

Despite our best attempts to stop them, the DDoS attacks continued. On March 21, 2024, T1 General Manager Jeong “Becker” Hoi-yoon announced that these attacks were specifically targeting players’ personal streams and practice sessions. After implementing countermeasures for two months, he declared on June 3, 2024, that the players could resume their streaming activities following a temporary halt in April. Unfortunately, DDoS attacks recurred less than a week later, causing another suspension of streaming from June 8, 2024, onwards.

The impact on T1

As a gamer, let me tell you, these non-stop DDoS attacks on T1 are really taking a toll on us, not just financially, but mentally as well. As Becker mentioned back on March 21, 2024, these disruptions have been impacting our mental health and making it hard for us to focus during practice sessions.

For professional League of Legends players in Korea, being denied access to Solo Queue is significantly more than just an annoyance; it’s essentially a major hindrance to their career progression. Known as one of the most challenging LoL servers worldwide, Korean Solo Queue plays a pivotal role in keeping players honed, adaptable to new game strategies (meta), and maintaining their competitive prowess at the peak level.

Furthermore, the lack of streaming capability presents additional difficulties for T1. Streaming serves not only as a means to engage with fans but also meets essential contractual obligations towards sponsors and streaming partners. This absence results in lost income from staff salaries and fan contributions, exacerbating the financial pressure, thus emphasizing the gravity of the predicament.

Riot Korea and Riot Games have yet to find a long-term solution

Despite efforts spanning over ten months, the DDoS issue affecting T1 and its players persists, placing them in a difficult predicament. Since this problem lies outside of the team’s or ownership group’s control, T1 has consistently urged Riot Korea and Riot Games to implement a permanent fix for the issue. Unfortunately, as stated on June 6, 2024, such action has yet to be taken.

In collaboration with Riot Korea, T1 has been implementing strategies to ward off DDoS attacks affecting their gamers. Regrettably, these initiatives unintentionally redirected the attacks towards other players who were competing alongside T1 in SoloQ, thereby exacerbating the team’s training conditions.

Although T1’s recent announcement has yet to receive a response from Riot Games and LCK, it was previously mentioned by Riot Meddler, head of League Studio, on June 10, 2024, that they are persistently working on investigating the issues and finding solutions. They are collaborating closely with T1 in an effort to establish a secure environment for both gameplay and streaming.

Community reactions

Since T1 made their announcement, there’s been a torrent of upset fans calling on Riot Games to address the ongoing problem, particularly concerning the perceived unfair advantages that T1 enjoyed prior to the LCK Cup 2025. They claim that the game seems to prioritize Faker and T1 when it comes to financial matters.

Supporters of T1 are expressing understanding toward them, but jokingly suggesting they might switch to streaming rival games instead of League of Legends. Meanwhile, some offer constructive advice such as introducing a one to two-minute delay in the stream or focusing on face cam and keyboard sounds (ASMR) without revealing too much game information on screen, to prevent potential attackers from gathering useful data.

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2025-01-08 01:41