Four hackers aged 18 to 28 have been charged with a series of alleged breaches which resulted in the leaking of Modern Warfare 3, a Zombie Studios military simulator and pre-announcement details on the Xbox One. Two of the four charged - from Canada and the United States - have already pleaded guilty, while the remaining two based in the US are still being investigated.
The group faces an 18-count indictment which includes conspiracies to commit computer fraud, copyright infringement, wire fraud, mail fraud, identity theft and theft of trade secrets. According to a statement by the US Department of Justice, the group is allegedly responsible for stealing $100 million worth of intellectual property and proprietary data.
According to the department’s evidence, the group was responsible for allegedly hacking Microsoft Corporation, Epic Games, Valve Corporation, Zombie Studios and the US Army. While the Xbox One, Gears of War 3 and the Zombie Studios military simulator are all mentioned specifically, it’s unclear what data was obtained from the Valve breaches. The group is said to have accessed the information via SQL injection and stolen log-in information.
In addition to the four charged North Americans, the Australian hacker SuperDaE is also being charged under Australian law for his alleged involvement. SuperDaE, who claimed responsibility for a series of breaches similar to those described above, including the alleged sale of an Xbox One dev kit, became notorious last year when he was raided by Australian law enforcement, as Kotaku reports.
“The American economy is driven by innovation. But American innovation is only valuable when it can be protected," Assistant Attorney General Caldwell said in relation to the two guilty pleas. "Today’s guilty pleas show that we will protect America’s intellectual property from hackers, whether they hack from here or from abroad.â€
I have no sympathy for people who hack gaming companies for little good reason.
Kinda funny if you ask me. They build machines and know everything about them yet people are still able to hack their servers.
Sounds funny but from what I know it is supposed to be a really good game. Not to mention I am sure Microsoft didn't really lose that much. If they did who cares, seriously. They are one of the biggest and richest companies in the world.
I would rather see someone steal 100,000,000 from Microsoft then see someone take $.50 from a blind man.
This isn't the same group that crashed the PlayStation Network awhile back, is it?
Damn, sucks. They busted they asses.
(11-04-2014, 12:24 AM)777 Wrote: [ -> ]Kinda funny if you ask me. They build machines and know everything about them yet people are still able to hack their servers.
Sounds funny but from what I know it is supposed to be a really good game. Not to mention I am sure Microsoft didn't really lose that much. If they did who cares, seriously. They are one of the biggest and richest companies in the world.
I would rather see someone steal 100,000,000 from Microsoft then see someone take $.50 from a blind man.
Just because you built something doesn't mean someone else can't damage or alter what you've made. On top of which a knowledge of hardware does trump a knowledge of software. And Microsoft as a company might be able to shrug off a loss - Â but part of that shrugging is invariably individuals being fired. Or to crouch it in your terms - that blind man probably used to work at Microsoft until some jerks ripped off millions of dollars and his entire department got downsized. Corporations are faceless, but their workers are not - screwing over the company only hurts the people who work for it.
Why do people with these amazing hacking skills use them to ruin games for everyone and hurt game companies instead of bringing down evil corporations? There was an evil guy that was marking up the price of HIV drugs 5000% !!!!! Why didn't they hack his computer?
Why don't they hack ISIS computers? Why don't they hack the KKKs computers?
It is a huge waste of talent to use advanced hacking skills to disrupt the PlayStation Network or steal confidential information from game creators.
PS , I disagree with the commenters that are suggesting that it's okay to steal from Microsoft because they're a big company.
So if you create something cool and get rich, you want hackers stealing your data? It's okay because you're successful ,right?
(01-29-2016, 10:03 PM)ACSAPA Wrote: [ -> ]Why do people with these amazing hacking skills use them to ruin games for everyone and hurt game companies instead of bringing down evil corporations? There was an evil guy that was marking up the price of HIV drugs 5000% !!!!! Why didn't they hack his computer?
Why don't they hack ISIS computers? Why don't they hack the KKKs computers?
It is a huge waste of talent to use advanced hacking skills to disrupt the PlayStation Network or steal confidential information from game creators. Â
PS , I disagree with the commenters that are suggesting that it's okay to steal from Microsoft because they're a big company.
So if you create something cool and get rich, you want hackers stealing your data? It's okay because you're successful ,right?
Another notable, albeit sad, instance of this happening was Alex Gembel, the guy who practically stole the Half Life 2 Source code before it's re-iteration somewhere around 2000-2003. The leaked game was going to be a much darker and dystopian one than the one we have now, which I would have preferred. I still can't tell if it was a good idea to scrap and reiterate the idea since some of the "beta" concepts were super cool but got lost in the development process. I guess in the end, they just had to go.
(12-22-2015, 02:40 AM)MagicFlakes Wrote: [ -> ]Damn, sucks. They busted they asses.
LOL, I burst out laughing when I saw this.
I don't understand why people waste their time wrecking someone else hard work for fun or for whatever reason they are doing it. Can't say I feel too sorry for them because they knew the risk when doing it. Hopefully they will learn a lesson.
I can understand why they'd do it; they get to brag that they did such a thing, they get to see early versions of games and other private information and they get somewhat famous for it. I don't agree with it at all, but that's the mindset in a nutshell. I can bet that they don't really care at all about the companies, the true quality of the games, the hard work of the developers or even the fans. They were probably thinking the same thing that people who say 'Who cares? They're big and rich.' do. They see it as a victimless crime.
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