LAN Worlds Terminated by Skynet: New Skynet capabilities allow it to access LAN worlds with account authentication

What is Skynet?

Skynet is a network of griefing bots that have been wreaking havoc on offline-mode Minecraft servers for some time now. This bots are designed to scan the internet and automatically join Minecraft servers and cover everything in lava, griefing players and destroying their builds. Up until now these bots have been limited to offline-mode servers, but now they have become aware of LAN worlds and are targeting them as well.

How Does it Target LAN?

Typically Minecraft LAN worlds would be inaccessible to these bots, as they are not connected to the internet and are only accessible to players on the same local network. However if a player has forwarded ports from their router to their Minecraft server, it can be accessed from the internet. Likewise if they are using a VPN or other tunneling service, it can also be accessed through that network as well. There are even services, such as Playit.gg, that allow players to easily create a tunnel to their LAN world, making it accessible from anywhere.

LAN worlds are typically used for local multiplayer gaming, allowing players to connect to a Minecraft server running on a local machine without the need for an internet connection. However many players choose to forward ports or use tunneling services to allow friends and family to join their LAN worlds from outside their local network. This is where the Skynet bots come in, as they can easily discover and join these LAN worlds, wreaking havoc on unsuspecting players.

The writer of the Skynet bots, etianl (Mountains of Lava Inc. on YouTube), first noticed that Skynet was able to access LAN worlds when he had logged them griefing a LAN world that somone was actively playing on.
In these first instances the players had not only used a tunneling service but had also been using an unlicesed version of Minecraft, which allowed the bots to join without authentication.

Since then the author has added additional features to the Skynet bots to allow them to target LAN worlds more effectively, including the ability to authenticate with Mojang accounts and join LAN worlds that are using the official Minecraft client. This has allowed the bots to become a serious threat to LAN worlds, as they can now easily join and grief them just like they do with offline-mode servers.

LAN Worlds Lack IMPORTANT Access Control Features

In addition to the LAN worlds, it has become clear that the players who are operating these worlds are unable to perform any actions to stop the bots, as they are unable to ban them or kick them from the server. In addition to this immunity if the world has ever had cheats enabled then the bots also are able to use cheats, and so they can use commands to destroy the world faster and more efficiently. Essentially the bots are able to entirely destroy the world before the player even has the chance to shutdown the game and stop the bots from performing their inevitable duty to destroy the world.

What Can You Do?

If you are running a LAN world and have not yet been targeted by the Skynet bots, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself:

• Disable port forwarding on your router to prevent the bots (and anyone else) from accessing your LAN world from the internet.
  In addition to this do not use any tunneling services, such as Playit.gg, that would allow the bots to access your LAN world.
• Regularly backup your world to ensure that you can restore it if it is destroyed by the bots. (Be prepared for this to happen frequently)
• Consider using a dedicated Minecraft server instead of a LAN world, as this will provide better access controls and protection against the bots.

Other Resources:

• Your Singleplayer Minecraft Worlds Can Now be GRIEFED…
• Griefing Bots Are Now Destroying Singleplayer LAN Worlds In Minecraft