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Shadowbane Servers Hacked, Chaos Ensues
Posted by
simoniker
on Wed May 28, 2003 09:58 AM
from the serious-hack-attack dept.
from the serious-hack-attack dept.
Vanguard(DC) writes "There was a major hacking incident last night on the servers of Shadowbane, a newly released MMORPG by UbiSoft/Wolfpack. The attackers wreaked havoc on at least one game server, with apparent god-like capabilities in-game. There's already an official statement on the forums - 'Ubi Soft and Wolfpack Studios are now working with law enforcement, and we promise all of you that these individuals will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.'" There's a little more information via a post on the SBCatacombs messageboard - apparently the carnage (including many less powerful players getting killed) involved "..teleporting people all over the world, teleporting hostile guards into the safe-holds, bringing in hordes of special event monsters, and teleporting everyone to a city at the bottom of the sea."
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Shadowbane Servers Hacked, Chaos Ensues
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I just can't get mad about this one... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday April 25 2007, @03:32PM)
Just roll the game back 24 hours and play on.
Re:I just can't get mad about this one... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://forechecker.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Friday September 07, @08:16PM)
PLAYER: You see, my elven warrior had just obtained expert skill level with his scimitar, which allowed him to slay the vicious vampire of the valley, after which he stole this awesome magic amulet that lets him see through walls...
HACKER: aaarrrrrgggghhhh!!! no more! no more!
Another player weighs in. (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.etteroljen.no/ | Last Journal: Tuesday January 17 2006, @11:50AM)
What about the judge and jury? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://knoppixquake.webhop.net/)
What would a jury think? That people who spent 500 hours building up an imaginary character need to be compensated for their loss? I can just see some uber-gamer breaking down and crying on the stand because their elf now has to start from level 50 when it took him 3 straight months of playing 5 hours a day to get to level 55. (or whatever the terminology is) More than that, how are you going to get a jury of this person's peers to try them in court? How do you interview a jury like that? OK, what is your favorite magic spell? Have you ever spent more that 12 hours straight playing a game? Is your BMI over 40? Picard or Shatner?
Jury of peers (Score:5, Funny)
Cross-Examining Lawyer: And, if I may ask, where did you get those gold pieces in the first place...?
Conan the Barbarian: Well, I killed this dragon and...
Cross-Examining Lawyer: Murderer!! You killed, pillaged and raped to get this money and now you have the stomach of accusing the defendant, and honor student in the other end of the kingdom...
Conan the Barbarian: But it was just a dragon...
Cross-Examining Lawyer: Racist!! There we have it, honored members of the jury, Mr Barbarian here is not only a thief and a murderer, he is also a racist. That nullifies any and all of his allegations. You must aquit.
Re:Jury of peers (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Tuesday April 08 2003, @10:19PM)
Cross-Examining Lawyer: It does not make sense. Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a Conan the Barbarian and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca. Does that make sense? Ladies and Gentlemen I'm am not making any sense. None of this makes sense. And so you have to remember when you're in that jury room deliberating and conjugating the Emancipation Proclamation, does it make sense? No. Ladies and Gentlemen of this deposed jury it does not make sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor you must acquit. The defense rests.
-S
Re:I just can't get mad about this one... (Score:5, Funny)
It sounds more like a movie. Any of these guys called Bruce?
or Neo?
A great idea (Score:4, Interesting)
Supposed you have a game & server concept similar to this, but programmed in a way to not take game security dead-serious. In fact, as the cheats, etc. came out this would not be shunned, but instead part of the game. The people with the best cheats take the cake, can gather clanmates and share what they know. Your clan is then defined by the abilities they have aquired through manipulation of the game workings (in addition to the standard tags, skins, etc.)
I'm sure you could develop a program in a way to separate out abilities (such as speed, gravity, damage types) such that any crack wouldn't give up everything else
Which brings on two negative points:
-It sure wouldn't be appealing to newbies, who start on ground zero
-Anyone who successfully gets full access ("GOD")
may be unsurpassable and ruin the game for everyone. This can be overcome by having the game focus include things other than Power by Might (i.e. killing sprees), such as trade, etc.
If there ever was a prime canidate for an open-source friendly game, this concept would be it
Kids these days... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://home.primus.ca/~ronsharp/tororg.html)
I almost died laughing when I, years later, saw The Wrath of Khan.
Plenty of hacked moby ships too.
Non-AI God also equals fun! (Score:5, Funny)
After all, it is a fantasy game, why couldn't this have happened within the normal confines of the game?
"What, how the hell did I get at the bottom of the ocean? Oh, great. Now I'm in the middle of my worst enemy's keep...This is not my beautiful castle?! This is not my beautiful wench?! How did I get here?"
Well, fun to me, at least. I don't take fantasy computer games that serious
Games are businesses too. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.zombo.com/)
Why should computer game servers be exempt from the usual laws about hacking into peoples' systems? Those who break into banks are prosecuted, if caught.
This person or persons compromised security, broke in and disrupted business operations, causing damages. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
ASA
Re:Games are businesses too. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://kintanon.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday October 03 2002, @03:36PM)
You pay 40$ a month for cable TV. It's just entertainment, no realy value behind it beyond that. Some jackass hacks the cable company and broadcasts 80's daytime soapoperas on ALL of the channels for a week.
Hilarious? Yes. Wrong? Also Yes.
This is precisely the same thing. And believe me, your average Television watching joe schmoe will NOT be amused that "Who wants to marry a millionaire friends star island 3" has been pre-empted by Days of Our Lives reruns from 1985.
The bottom line is that people paid for their entertainment, someone else fucked their entertainment up. The person doing all the fucking up should be punished for depriving me of a service I paid for, and for depriving the company of revenue. End of story.
Kintanon
Re:because it's just a fucking game (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday March 07 2007, @09:12PM)
I think it's kind of ludicrous to make threats like the Ubi people have made, but the people who did this do deserve some comeuppance because what they did *was* in the real world--they hacked the game, destroyed a lot of people's expenditures of time, and most importantly to Ubi, trashed the hosting company's reputation. All of that is real-world, whether you think it's important or not.
That said, I think the whole thing was hilarious from descriptions, and I'd love to see the recording of the mess they made.
Re:because it's just a fucking game (Score:5, Insightful)
They DID hack into a commercial system and disrupted business.
They DID interfere with paying customers.
Just because they are hacking into a game today and you're willing to let them get qaway with it, what will you say when they're hacking into your bank account tomorrow?
because it's a law (Score:5, Insightful)
No one reasonable is asking for the cops to stop chasing terrorists to do this, but we as a society prosecute any crime (even stupid ones, to even stupider lengths) as a principle.
And just because other problems exist, doesn't mean you let the little ones slide. No one's time is that hard up.
Re:because it's just a fucking game (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.windmeadow.com/)
Re:because it's just a fucking game (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.overwhelmed.org/merzbow)
Do you ever complain if someone's cell phone rings in a theater? Or if they talk loudly through the whole film?
Basically, if you *ever* complain about anything that someone does to make your entertainment choices less fun, you're a hypocrite.
I bet if you were in the middle of an intense game of chess and I, a complete stranger, came by and intentionally knocked the board over, you might feel like throwing a punch in my direction. How is this any different, except that the jerks are safely far away from having their asses kicked right then and there, is beyond me.
Saying it's "just games" ignores just how important a certain amount of play is to a healthy life.
.
No it's NOT just a fucking game (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.tschopp.net/)
The point is that if they were your servers, and they were your customers, and it was your business model you would be screaming bloody murder.
And if you wern't then you need a serious reality check about how the real world operates. This is a company with shareholders who now has to explain why they wouldn't react the way they are to their shareholders.
On another note, does anyone else notice a trend on the games.slashdot.org stories and how many of them suffer from morre thoughtless comments than a normal Slashdot storie?
Ted Tschopp
Re:game world != real world... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.myspace.com/mypetmachinemusic)
if that will happen, then WHO will take responsibility for all the holes in Windows?!
well, not exactly. they're not going after the people for breaking into a game, but for breaking into a server. Nor are they going after the people responsible for the lousy security on their servers (as your windows comment might suggest), but rather the ones responsible for exploiting that lousy security. This is pretty much standard in the real world. I break into a system, I get caught, I get prosecuted.
Re:game world != real world... (Score:4, Interesting)
Like an undocumented bit/byte pattern in the interface.
Anyone remember the the undocumented instructions in 8085? or the Z-80? or IBM Midranges?
Re:game world != real world... (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because there is a hole doesn't mean you have the responsibility to exploit it and break in. Indeed, it's illegal to do so. UbiSoft will no doubt come down on their admins for shoddy security. But that does NOT give you carte blanche to break in, nor does it protect you from prosecution.
Protesting 'Security Through Obscurity' is not the same as 'ooo, let's a be a script kiddy and exploit this bug and wreak havoc, because they should have known better.' If that's your attitude, you'd better get used to a felony rap sheet and a large, tattooed boyfriend named Slash.
Re:game world != real world... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.agileagenda.com/)
Not to mention the tarnished reputation, which is also worth damages.
Not to mention that breaking a law is illegal, whether you hurt some one or not.
Re:game world != real world... (Score:5, Funny)
Jack Nicholson and Calvin Klein, notwithstanding...
Re:game world != real world... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Friday November 01 2002, @10:02PM)
Not if it takes more then one click to do it
Re:game world != real world... (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not just a game, it's a service provided by a company to paying customers. The hackers disrupted a service being provided, that is a prosecutable offense right? And if US/W loses money (i.e. customers, downtime, and IT expenses) then they can claim damages right.
I'm sorry, but that title needs a farkism: (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Wednesday September 27 2006, @06:52PM)
Hahaha. (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Tuesday December 19 2006, @05:12PM)
"Now featuring WRATH OF GOD mode, where pissed off GM's show you what it would REALLY be like if god cared. Experience plagues, meteors, and lightning from a clear sky. Divine retribution like you've never seen it before! Just 20 dallars a month."
Heh.
Haha! (Score:3, Funny)
Fear the machines!
I can see the police blotter for the individuals responsible:
"Teens arrested for acting like God in computer game"
unfortunately this is par for the course (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://slashdot.org/)