Will the cracker(s) be caught?

[Psyco_]

I've been discussing this question with my brother for some days, and I'm now in doubt whether the perpetrators will ever be caught. Here's what makes me doubt:

The hacking of Valve's office was 'professional', well considered and well planned. The guys KNEW what they were getting into, they knew what to do and knew how to cover their trails. These guys have done this before and they're not stupid (well, they are, in the sence of committing such a serious crime as corporate espionage) since they had to write/rewrite tools to avoid detection by anti-virus apps. They've probably disguised themselves by using proxies from various locations in the world, thus making it tremendously hard to track them down. My question is now: Do we even have the slightest chance to ever find these bastards?

Previously we've seen the entire world of electronics media on the flip side because of viruses, and the FBI's e-crime division have been tracking down several computer-hackers and virus programmers. But we have to realize that FBI has no matter in this case, since this is no where near as big a crime as the Blaster worm for example.

My 2 cents on this case is, that we wont find the perps unless someone in their inner circle spils.

Anyone who knows something I (and my brother) doesn't know about e-crime and the chances that these asses will be found?

 

[Headwires]

who knows :/ i'm hopin they will be found

 

[Boogaleeboo]

The video game industry is worth a few billion, and this story has been covered in many high profile news sites, not to mention the print papers too.

So yeah, you can expect the Federales to bust serious ass on this one. Odds of them getting away with it?

Eh, 1 in 20. Bad, but not outside the realm of possibility.

 

[Stryyder]

I don't think you have enough information to characterize the attack as either 'professional', or not. Regardless I wouldn't use professional as hacker is not a profession, experienced may be better.

All we know are the tools that were used, P.S. tools that are very easily found through IRC or Bittorrent. And I have seen some of the examples of the social engineering chats/e-mails.

Also the buffer overun exploit in Exchange is an oldy but goody that everyone knows about.

Until they release more information I would think you are just speculating at best.

P.S. all the goverment has to do is get a hold of one of the bot machines they used in the DoS attack, from there they can find the malicious code and work back to the source. That is if the hacker and the people who initiated the DoS attack are the same.

 

[GoLiatH]

No they wont becuase they/the person used 3 public proxy servers when they hacked valve so they cant unless they say that they/the person did it. They cant track the person down even if they now what ip they used when they hacked valve.

(this is things i have heared, but i have my soucres )

 

[Bossman]

I dont think it was a proffessional job, because Valve seem to know how they got in and what they did, i dont think you would be able to tell how it happened unless it was done carelessly, either that or the person who did it wanted Valve to know how it was done.

Secondly is the mass distribution of the Code, a lot of people have a general idea that the myfag0ts have a lot to do with this and proffessionals as you say, wouldnt have anything to do with chumps like them.

...

 

[-AnthraX-]

I cant wait to see the face of the bastard that done this

 

[PvtRyan]

Probably, just because of the fact crackers do this for their ego and attention, no way someone isn't going to talk at some time. They've (in thier eyes) accomplished something really challenging, do you think they'll just disappear in thin air without bragging about it?
And a lot of major viruswriters get caught too.

 

[GoLiatH]

Originally posted by Bossman
I dont think it was a proffessional job,

Well they got what they came for and Valve cant get them so you cant say they didnt know what they were doing.

 

[Gorgon]

In two words

I hop.

 

[Bossman]

Originally posted by GoLiatH
Well they got what they came for and Valve cant get them so you cant say they didnt know what they were doing.

How do you know that? I still stand by the fact that they were lucky enough to stumble across the source code, i dont think they had any intention on "getting" anything, just to cause problems.

I'm not saying your wrong, cos it could well be a proffessional job, but know one really knows for sure yet, and i think theres more evidence pointing to the fact that its script kiddies and not pros.

...

 

[dyeinbreed]

Originally posted by Stryyder
Regardless I wouldn't use professional as hacker is not a profession, experienced may be better.

companies pay to have good hackers try to hack their databases. Just like that guy that was forging checks all over the us and eventually was caught by the FBI, worked for them and now makes millions. So in fact hacking can be a profession.

 

[hlx66]

There are 2 credible sources on this, Valve and whom-ever gained access.

The first source seems rather unknowing of what occurred anyways. Think about it, if Valve actually knew the point of access and the timeline that this occured in, then they should have a valid lead on the case already and wouldn't have bothered asking for the community involvement, thus making it as widely known as it is.

Valve is making it bigger than it needs to be by posting updates and getting the media involved. The only real update we need is who did this and when the game is going to be released.

 

[Tork]

Well ive seen on Court TV how the FBI cought a guy on MSN , but that was for murder. So yes it can be done , but it depends on how dumb or smart they were..

 

[Dr-X]

I also hop

 

[The Mullinator]

The FBI has very little success when it comes to tracking down and catching hackers. Almost the only reason the FBI ever tracks down and captures a hacker is if that hacker didin't cover their tracks well enough (which doesn't often happen) or if they brag about what they did. I read somewhere that less than 5% of people that the FBI tries to track down due to cybercrime are ever caught.

So unless the guy that hacked Valve didn't cover his tracks well enough, or if he decides to brag then he will probably neve be caught. On the other hand with this amount of press and with such a huge number of people that are online and pissed off about what he did, the chances of him being caught are much higher than normal.

 

[GamerZ]

I think the possibillty of catching them is quite slim but is still possible.

 

[PvtRyan]

Originally posted by The Mullinator

So unless the guy that hacked Valve didn't cover his tracks well enough, or if he decides to brag then he will probably neve be caught. On the other hand with this amount of press and with such a huge number of people that are online and pissed off about what he did, the chances of him being caught are much higher than normal.

Yeah, but with him stealing the source code (which is on itself something unique) of the most anticipated game of the coming years, chances that he'll talk are pretty high I think. And some persons around him must know it, and perhaps one of them will come clean one day and spill the beans. Those internet/IRC groups aren't very stable, so some guy wanting to take revenge and selling the crackers out is a possibility too.

 

[Bossman]

Originally posted by The Mullinator
Almost the only reason the FBI ever tracks down and captures a hacker is if that hacker didin't cover their tracks well enough (which doesn't often happen) or if they brag about what they did.

Too true, but thats one of the main reasons they do it in the first place, to gain attention and to brag about it.

...

 

[The Mullinator]

If hes smart he will not brag about it. Then again when youve done something this big the urge to brag is going to be driving you insane.

Heres hoping hes either stupid or doesn't have enough will-power to resist the temptation to brag. Or both

 

[Psyco_]

My point when saying this guy was a 'pro', is that the communities involved in illegal bussiness on the internet seems to be very aware of how to cover their tracks and how to avoid getting caught. The warez scene is a good example of this. It has existed since the first commercial software was released, and some of the groups from back then are still functional and active on the scene.

 

[FriScho]

http://www.mynetcologne.de/~nc-schobefr/temp/letshopeithappens.jpg

 

[Defcon-one]

Really hope they will get them!

Maybe truly a bit far fetched...But i hope there are some HL-Fans under the NSA executives too.
If the FBI wont get them, maybe the NSA would be able to...
(even if i know such an involvment is absolutely unlikely, they surely would have the equipment, knowledge and power to trace down hackers. Especially with all the Information of phonecalls, internettraffic and emails etc. they're gathering constantly worldwide 24/7. And hey, why cant hacking & industrial or economic espionage of an US company be seen as a national security thread!?!)

:sniper:

 

[6iXx]

I wish the hacker leaked the Benchmark or some new videos instead

 

[Quotidian---]

Originally posted by 6iXx
I wish the hacker leaked the Benchmark or some new videos instead

me to, simply becuase code is useless to us, and does HUGE damage to the company.

no one wants that, cept prob. the hacker/cracker whatever. the demo wouldn't be as big of a deal in my opinion, since when it gets released the sp will get cracked anyway.

 

[GoLiatH]

Originally posted by Quotidian---
me to, simply becuase code is useless to us, and does HUGE damage to the company.

Yes it useless to us but good use for the coders that make hacks like ogc etc. With the source code they can make hacks and cheats easy and I dont want cheats and shit. It have ****ing ruin one game counter-strike. I would be very boring and sad if they did it too Half-Life 2 also.

 

[toast]

Cheats would have come out for HL2 even if the source hadn't been leaked. It's the same for any popular game.

 

[Homer]

If and when they catch em, it will be because they catch the stupid assholes bragging about it and/or trace back the person who released it.

I think someone should start a anti-cheater progect with a little more impact. once you catch someone cheating, you find out where they live and post it online. I cant wait to see every member of myg0d muderd with crowbars all across the nation.

 

[Homer]

Originally posted by toast
Cheats would have come out for HL2 even if the source hadn't been leaked. It's the same for any popular game.

these cheats will be VERY different, in that they will be extreemly hard to stop and will be so rampant that there will be no way whatsoever to join a game without a cheater or two.

 

[toast]

For CS, many of the cheats were hard to detect. Because of that, a few little goodies came out that started banning people who got too many headshots or had too good a kill-death ratio.

The best anti-cheat measure is a good server, though. As long as you're on a server that always has a good admin around, cheating shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Homer]

Originally posted by toast
For CS, many of the cheats were hard to detect. Because of that, a few little goodies came out that started banning people who got too many headshots or had too good a kill-death ratio.

The best anti-cheat measure is a good server, though. As long as you're on a server that always has a good admin around, cheating shouldn't be a problem.

that was true for the type of cheats that existed for cs, but these cheats will be capeable of doing things like crashing other peoples clients and the like.

 

[toast]

I'm not looking to start a long term arguement over which cheats will be worse, but people were able to crash others' clients in CS, etc as well.

 

[BigD]

Just one question here..
Everyone talks about the FBI...ever thought about the fact that the hacker might very well be from somewhere else then the United States?

He might sit in a basement in Tokyo, he might sit in Germany, Australia, wherever...hmmm thats why this is complicated.

Never the less, he will get his punishment, but through the authorities in his own country, the fbi will help track him down though seeing as how its based in seattle (valve)

 

[SirMcNugget]

I hope its some stupid annoying fat kid. That will make it funnier.