March 20, 2003 Ragnarok Japan Hack

The **March 20, 2003 Ragnarok Japan Hack** was a hacking (cracking) incident which occurred on March 20 2003, which was done by, or with reference to reverse engineering and cheating group Apez.

### Background

Users of the Ragnarok Online Japan service reported that between 1:20 and 1:33 (not known if AM or PM), there were global announcements repeatedly made which stated:

> *ALL YOUR RO ARE BELONG TO APEZ*
>
>
> *Happy 1 year anniversary to all of the Apez crew and members !!!*
>
>
>
> *GRAVITY SUCKS HUGE COCK*
>
>

Several sources reported that GungHo, the operator of the Japanese Ragnarok service suspended the use chat, guild chat and chat rooms were suspended while the company investigated the leak. Following this incident, GungHo posted the following update, update 34:

**Original Japanese**

```
No.034	全ワールドにおける不正アナウンス発生に関してのお知らせ	2003.3.20 3:50

ラグナロクオンライン運営チームです。

3月20日、1：25分頃から1：33頃にかけて全ワールドに対し、不正なアクセスによって
運営チームによるものではないゲーム内アナウンスが流れたことを確認致しました。
現在、不正アクセスに対する調査を行っております。

その為、暫定的な処置ではありますが全ワールドにおいてチャットサーバー機能を
停止させていただいております。これによりゲーム内において、チャット・パーティ・
ギルド機能が使用できない状態とはなりますが、ゲームを続行して頂くことに関しましては、
弊害はございません。

ユーザーの皆様には大変ご迷惑をおかけしておりますことを、まずはお詫び申し上げます。

本件に関しましては、ゲームシステムに対する不正なアクセスではございますが、
お客様個人の情報に関しては、ゲームシステムより隔離された場所となるガンホー管理の
別システムとなっておりそちらに対する不正アクセスはございません。
従いまして、お客様の個人情報は安全ですのでご安心ください。

尚、復旧のご連絡等、追って告知させていただきます。

```

**English Translation**

```
No.034	Notice regarding the occurrence of fraudulent announcements in all worlds	2003.3.20 3:50

This is the Ragnarok Online management team.

We have confirmed that on March 20th, from around 1:25 to 1:33, in-game announcements that were not made by the management team were made to all worlds due to unauthorized access.

We are currently investigating unauthorized access. Therefore, as a temporary measure, we have suspended the chat server function in all worlds. As a result, chat, party, and guild functions will not be available in-game , but there will be no harm in continuing to play the game.

First of all, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience caused to our users. Although this incident is an unauthorized access to the game system, there is no unauthorized access to your personal information as it is a separate system managed by GungHo that is isolated from the game system.

Therefore, please rest assured that your personal information is safe. We will notify you regarding the restoration of the service at a later date.

```

GameSpot also made reference that AEGIS had been leaked, although it was not specifically detailed whether AEGIS was leaked in this hack or had been leaked before and had been analysed by hacking groups.

The group ApezRO themselves announced on their website (apezro.cjb.net) that on 19 March 2003, they celebrated "1 year of hacking RO". On the day of the hack, they posted an unrelated update, explaining that language filter files were available for GRFs.

#### References

1. ↑ youc (2003) *hack030320.txt*. Available at: https://archive.ph/eFs33 (Accessed: 29 October 2023). - Includes a transcript of the announcements that were made between 01:28:40 and 01:34:11.
2. ↑ Hirohiko, N. (2003) *Ragnarok Online gets hacked in Japan*. Available at: https://archive.ph/QJMKi (Accessed: 29 October 2023).
3. ↑ GetSet (2003) *ラグナロクオンラインがクラックされる (Ragnarok Online Cracked)*. Available at: https://archive.ph/BeGVn (Accessed: 29 October 2023).
4. ↑ GungHo Interactive (2003) *全ワールドにおける不正アナウンス発生に関してのお知らせ (Notice regarding the occurrence of fraudulent announcements in all worlds)*. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20030321092649/http://www.ragnarokonline.jp:80/bar/news/important/034.html (Accessed: 29 October 2023).
5. ↑ DarKGenshu, ApezRO (2003) 1 Year of hacking ro!. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20030325024507/http://apezro.cjb.net/ (Accessed: 29 October 2023).