kernkraft
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- Oct 3, 2003
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[Note: I am new on HL2.net and registered because I wanted to know more about this and to post my opinion. I didn't read all the threads concerning this issue so this kind of conversation might have already been started somewhere else. Sorry if it has and the length of this post 
.]
Hello, like most people patiently waiting for the HL2 release on the internet, I was shocked to see that something like this could actually happen. I was shocked to see that people could be so stupid. Code leak is nothing new for software companies but this one definitely takes the cake. If you dig deep enough on the internet/iRC, you can probably find leaked source of literally dozens of software ranging from Windows to Office to 3DS MAX (I haven’t checked myself).
This is because this software has hundreds of employees working on them and the more people touching the code the better the chances are that eventually, it will fall in the hands of a “jaded” employee. Now every company has a different way of handling this: file access records, source control records and so on. But the thing with these leaks is that most of the time it's just for “fun” or reverse engineering (my pov) and that people will rarely turn around and make an MSWord clone and try to sell it. What can happen is that other companies might look at it and steal ideas (I ain’t pointing any fingers…ms). But this is different; it’s not like a Doom III leak. This code isn’t like bitmaps, geometry and executables; people can simply steal all the ideas from HL2 without any effort. This is an attack against a company loyal to their clients, it is very bad for the industry and might delay the game even more. It may even make Valve think twice about making another game. I know I would.
Now to the point. If any of you are programmers, you probably have used MS SourceSafe before in a dev team. But did Valve use it? As Gabe is himself is a former Microsoft employee, it's very probable. SourceSafe in conjunction with VS2003 is the standard for enterprise development and the safest. What I’m trying to get at is, how were they/was he able to actually be able to make it pass all the security and the firewalls and etc. to get to the passwords never mind the actual code to a multimillion dollar software? Since we know Gabe’s inbox had been “tapped” for a while and that his machine wasn’t safe, the hacker(s) responsible for this could have found the passwords…but how? It’s not like professional game makers keep an “All_Passwords_Please_Don’t_Touch.txt” file on their desktop. Keeping keystrokes recorders isn’t a simple task and sorting through it is a pain in the ass.
How did Valve handle the security of their code and how can this be avoided? Any thoughts? Personally, I hope the code is old and/or incomplete and I think Valve should have waited another six months to tell community about the project.
.]Hello, like most people patiently waiting for the HL2 release on the internet, I was shocked to see that something like this could actually happen. I was shocked to see that people could be so stupid. Code leak is nothing new for software companies but this one definitely takes the cake. If you dig deep enough on the internet/iRC, you can probably find leaked source of literally dozens of software ranging from Windows to Office to 3DS MAX (I haven’t checked myself
).This is because this software has hundreds of employees working on them and the more people touching the code the better the chances are that eventually, it will fall in the hands of a “jaded” employee. Now every company has a different way of handling this: file access records, source control records and so on. But the thing with these leaks is that most of the time it's just for “fun” or reverse engineering (my pov) and that people will rarely turn around and make an MSWord clone and try to sell it. What can happen is that other companies might look at it and steal ideas (I ain’t pointing any fingers…ms). But this is different; it’s not like a Doom III leak. This code isn’t like bitmaps, geometry and executables; people can simply steal all the ideas from HL2 without any effort. This is an attack against a company loyal to their clients, it is very bad for the industry and might delay the game even more. It may even make Valve think twice about making another game. I know I would.
Now to the point. If any of you are programmers, you probably have used MS SourceSafe before in a dev team. But did Valve use it? As Gabe is himself is a former Microsoft employee, it's very probable. SourceSafe in conjunction with VS2003 is the standard for enterprise development and the safest. What I’m trying to get at is, how were they/was he able to actually be able to make it pass all the security and the firewalls and etc. to get to the passwords never mind the actual code to a multimillion dollar software? Since we know Gabe’s inbox had been “tapped” for a while and that his machine wasn’t safe, the hacker(s) responsible for this could have found the passwords…but how? It’s not like professional game makers keep an “All_Passwords_Please_Don’t_Touch.txt” file on their desktop. Keeping keystrokes recorders isn’t a simple task and sorting through it is a pain in the ass.
How did Valve handle the security of their code and how can this be avoided? Any thoughts? Personally, I hope the code is old and/or incomplete and I think Valve should have waited another six months to tell community about the project
.
