IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Hackers target pro gamer after taking 'League of Legends' offline 

\"League of Legends\" was among the games and gaming-related websites that were targeted on Monday by the hacker group DERP.
\"League of Legends\" was among the games and gaming-related websites that were targeted on Monday by the hacker group DERP.Riot Games

A group of hackers claiming credit for knocking popular online game "League of Legends" offline Monday said they did it for "the lulz" — but things turned personal against a popular professional gamer, U.S. gamer James “PhantomL0rd” Varga, after he shared his observations about the outages with his 367,000 followers on Twitch.tv — a video-streaming platform where gamers broadcast their gameplay in real time.

DERP, the hacker group claiming credit on Twitter for the deliberate denial-of-service attack on "League of Legends," and other games, reportedly posted Varga's personal information online, including his home address. As well as turning their attention to taking down games featured on the 25-year-old gamer's Twitch.tv channel, DERP allegedly made a false call to the police. Varga, 25, best known under the gamer monikur, "PhantomL0rd," ended up in handcuffs

Varga at a gathering with some of the many fans of his online gaming persona
Varga (center) at a gathering with some of the many fans of his online gaming persona,Facebook

"League of Legends" (LoL) is easily the most popular game on Twitch today — a spokesperson for the company told NBC News in July that LoL videos rack up more than 450 million views in a given month.

"League of Legends" players had begun to identify server outages across the U.S. and European versions of games early Monday morning. Later that day, the game's Asians servers were knocked offline as well. 

Riot Games, the creator of "League of Legends," confirmed that the outages were due to an outside hacker Monday evening in a statement issued on the company's Twitter account, saying that it was "investigating the issue."

It's unclear if there was any other reason DERP reportedly targeted Varga other than his coverage of the original attacks again "League of Legends." Varga was not immediately available for comment on this story, but during a Twitch.tv stream he did after the events subsided he said that his personal information was leaked after he had begun to notice server issues and communicated directly with one of the alleged hackers.

By the time the dust settled, DERP had disrupted services on popular websites such as the Electronic Arts homepage, Reddit, Blizzard's Battle.net service (which supports online gameplay for hit games like "StarCraft II," "Diablo III," and "World of Warcraft"), the social network Club Penguin, and other games like "Quake Live" and "Dota 2," another popular competitive strategy game similar to "League of Legends."

"no dota for you," DERP wrote to Varga on Twitter at one point on Monday afternoon.

"LOOOL," Varga responded.


Pretty soon, Varga wasn't laughing. His personal information hit the Internet and a prank phone call was then placed to the local police department alleging that Varga was holding hostages in his house.

"Just had an automatic pointed at me, put in hand cuffs and sat in the back of a cop car as I watched as 6 policemen go through my whole house," Varga posted on Facebook Monday afternoon. "Will keep you all updated." Varga posted a picture of what he described as the arresting police officers on his Facebook page, and as well as several other images of his alleged arrest during his Twitch stream on Monday, but the Los Angeles Police Department hasn't provided any information to the press yet. 

Varga said he was released once it became clear that the call was a fake, but he said in an almost hour-long video he posted on YouTube that he's still rattled by Monday's events.

"I'm still quite shaken up, but I'm good. I'm okay," Varga said in the video.

Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: Yannick.LeJacq@nbcuni.com.