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The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

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Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#61

Post by xwolfi »

prmoustache wrote: post #18
maxweylandt wrote: post #11

The article claims/repeats the claim that this cost valve $250 million, but I don't see how. If the leaked version wasn't very playable the damage can't come from lost sales

yeah that is just "let's throw random numbers to victimize ourselves even more". I don't think a lot of people downloaded the unfinished source code, compiled it, played the game and never bought the conplete game. The worst that happened were people making memes with some 3d and graphics assets which didn't cost anyrhing to Valve. Quite the opposite it was free advertising.

But I did use it as inspiration for an 3D engine project at school, they had geometrical formulas I had trouble to find online, at least efficiently implemented. It helped a bit in reverse engineering their map format too so I could just display any sort of already made map.

I imagine that if I branched out in gaming it would have been a nice bonus, it's not everyday you get to see the competition's code. I suppose they lost in opportunity cost to license their thing, a bit ?

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#62

Post by KMnO4 »

ineedasername wrote: post #41

>"Have you any idea how lucky you are that we got to you before you got on that plane?" That's the most important thing I took away from this article. The kid did something stupid and it almost ruined his life because he almost got onto a plane that would have taken him to the FBI & US justice system. Instead local authorities got a hold of him and he learned a vocation waiting for a trial (programming) & having show…

It’s crazy. How is it any different than the CCP luring Americans over to China and throwing them in prison for posting distasteful content online?

The CCP and the FBI have different values, but it’s entirely the same concept.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#63

Post by dvzk »

bagels wrote: post #40
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #37

Valve's response here seems exceedingly harsh. This kid went of his way to reach out to Valve and apologize for what he did, because he felt guilty. Valve's response was to forward his message to the FBI and organize a sting operation. I realize he broke the law, but only because he wanted to play Half-Life 2. It was done out of love for what Valve themselves created.

I can't disagree more. He built malware, and distributed it to steal game keys. Then, he stole and published the hl2 source. It's a lot more than just wanting to play a game early.

Yes. HL2 is how Axel became known to gamers, but it's nearly irrelevant. He also created the most popular open source malware framework (Agobot) in existence at the time. Millions of systems were enlisted in botnets based on variants of his work (which were usually just recompilations with IRC C&C server changes). He didn't typically talk about running a botnet, but many of the other minor project collaborators and IRC regulars did.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#64

Post by deaddodo »

StimDeck wrote: post #43
deaddodo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I can speak for this specific story, as I have no firsthand testimony, but Mitnick is a notorious embellisher, downplayer and (anecdotally) liar.

*was

I was unaware he passed. My apologies and condolences.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#65

Post by Wowfunhappy »

dvzk wrote: post #63
bagels wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't disagree more. He built malware, and distributed it to steal game keys. Then, he stole and published the hl2 source. It's a lot more than just wanting to play a game early.

Yes. HL2 is how Axel became known to gamers, but it's nearly irrelevant. He also created the most popular open source malware framework (Agobot) in existence at the time. Millions of systems were enlisted in botnets based on variants of his work (which were usually just recompilations with IRC C&C server changes). He didn't typically talk about running a botnet, but many of the other minor project collaborators and I…

Okay, well that wasn't in the article, I wasn't aware.

I still find Valve's response to a person admitting guilt to be pretty harsh, given that they couldn't have known about unrelated crimes.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#66

Post by jmprspret »

KMnO4 wrote: post #62
ineedasername wrote: post #41

>"Have you any idea how lucky you are that we got to you before you got on that plane?" That's the most important thing I took away from this article. The kid did something stupid and it almost ruined his life because he almost got onto a plane that would have taken him to the FBI & US justice system. Instead local authorities got a hold of him and he learned a vocation waiting for a trial (programming) & having show…

It’s crazy. How is it any different than the CCP luring Americans over to China and throwing them in prison for posting distasteful content online? The CCP and the FBI have different values, but it’s entirely the same concept.

Of course. The concept of authoritarianism isn't exclusive to communist and/or fascist regimes. They can and do exist in all modern forms of government all over.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#67

Post by whoknowsidont »

russelg wrote: post #58
charcircuit wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Valve has not released the source engine code beyond their partners.

It's literally on Github. https://github.com/ValveSoftware/source-sdk-2013

This is the SDK and some parts of the engine that make the SDK easier to use and grok. It is not the engine.

You cannot compile that and get a fully working engine.

It's a bit like claiming the Win32 API is the Windows NT kernel.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#68

Post by jmprspret »

dopeboy wrote: post #21
tetris11 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think 3 should be "Don't email your hack victims with proof of your crimes for a face-to-face meeting."

He did so to confess. He has admitted he didn’t want to hide. There’s no strategy to critique here; he wanted to come clean.

5) never come clean to feds

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#69

Post by dvzk »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #65
dvzk wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. HL2 is how Axel became known to gamers, but it's nearly irrelevant. He also created the most popular open source malware framework (Agobot) in existence at the time. Millions of systems were enlisted in botnets based on variants of his work (which were usually just recompilations with IRC C&C server changes). He didn't typically talk about running a botnet, but many of the other minor project collaborators and I…

Okay, well that wasn't in the article, I wasn't aware. I still find Valve's response to a person admitting guilt to be pretty harsh, given that they couldn't have known about unrelated crimes.

Sure, to be clear, I also think Valve's response was over the top. Conspiring to extradite a foreigner, as a private corporation, is straight out of cyberpunk fiction. Axel's a very lucky person, all things considered. If he had been held liable for Agobot's staggering DDOS/theft/remediation costs many in this community might otherwise think it fair.

Re: The boy who stole Half-Life 2 (2011)

#70

Post by jamiek88 »

ericzawo wrote: post #51
eloisant wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's easy to know, just look up "Xbox Underground" and you'll know what happens when you get caught by the FBI accessing video games developers networks and leaking games: Short version: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_Underground Long version: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/45/ In short they got sentenced to 18 to 24 months of prison.

A couple of these guys went to my high school! Seemed really overtly harsh.

> This culminated in the perpetrators carrying out a physical theft, by using stolen credentials to enter "a secure building" at Microsoft's Redmond headquarters and exiting with publicly unreleased prototypes of the Xbox One codenamed "Durango". Group members say they were driven by a strong curiosity about Microsoft's then-unreleased Xbox One console and associated software.

I don’t know, this seems a lot more than ‘hacking’.

18 to 24 months seems about right for that IMO. Typically I am horrified at US sentencing but this doesn’t seem terrible.

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