Regarding today's reported leak of code, specifically as it pertains to TF2: This also appears to be related to code depots released to partners in late 2017, and originally leaked in 2018.
— Team Fortress 2 (@TeamFortress) April 23, 2020
Valve confirmed its source code for major games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 have been leaked to the public, leaving the game vulnerable to hackers.
In tweets from both games, access stemmed from a past leak of the code in 2018 as it was shared to partners for game development. Since then, its Team Fortress 2 developers reassured players no reason to avoid playing the game. Counter-Strike‘s own account echoed similar messages, adding the leak continues to be investigated by security workers.
A leaked source code gives hackers a degree of control over a game, including the ability to access computers through other players and even install malware remotely. Hackers could also add in their own cheats to dominate, through the likes of Aimbot or phasing through walls.
According to WIRED, the code was allegedly leaked further by Valve fan groups while another did so out of being kicked from a Discord community.
“I woke up to armageddon occurring in the Valve community,” ValveNewsNetwork creator Tyler McVicker told WIRED.
With over a million users logging onto Valve’s games daily, the leaks have started warnings from other communities to be careful. One from Creators TF stated they shut fan servers down “for the unforeseeable future” until the security matter was fixed.