Crackers on decline

[walker 0]

Hi all

You may have noticed the decline in numbers of game crackers recently latest numbers from various sources put total numbers at less than 40 and several of those appear to be the same person the data is comming from ban lists and IP traces.

As you may remember I suggested some time ago that the best solution to crackers was the legal solution. Well now it appears that cases have started to be successfuly taken this then may be the major cause of the decline in crackers:

Police Arrest Teen Over Call of Duty DDoS Attack

Activision reported the goof to the Cyber Police.

A 17-year-old has been arrested in Manchester on suspicion of being behind a denial of service attack that disrupted online play in Call of Duty.

Activision contacted the Metropolitan Police's e-crime unit to investigate the attack back in September. What it found was a malware program called "Phenom Booter" which allowed players to attack others and improve their own scores.

The police tracked the program's origin to the UK and then to Greater Manchester via IP Address. The teenager was promptly arrested in the Beswick area on Thursday morning under offences against the Computer Misuse Act...

http://spong.com/article/23277/Police-Arrest-Teen-Over-Call-of-Duty-DDoS-Attack

As always follow the link to the original article

May I suggest any other server admin follow the same procedure. If we can gather the evidense and prove conspiracy it would be nice to bring a case against a certain site enabling the confiscation of their equipment and banning them from ever using computers. I am certain that if one of these 30 or so numpties is lent on hard enough they will turn on the others.

Kind regards walker

---------- Post added at 10:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:40 PM ----------

Hi all

A More detailed report is available here.

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3252762

Kind Regards walker

Edited January 23, 2011 by walker
Because Crackers Face Jail and are on the decline

[Sleep 10]

I'm not sure what DdoS has to do with game cracks

[walker 0]

Hi [506th PIR]Sleep

All that has to be proved is that the program degraded the intended use of the server thus denying intended service.

Which could include any griefing type activity. In this case the program was designed to reduce other players scores.

..."Programmes marketed in order to disrupt the online infrastructure not only affect individual players but have commercial and reputational consequences for the companies concerned," said Detective Inspector Paul Hoare of the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU), which was involved in the arrest.

"These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime," he said...

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3252762

As always follow the link to the original article

Either way nice to see some progress. :)

The fact that these numpties anounce them selves in forums and videos should make them easy to track down. Must be the only criminals in the world with an auto self-grass-up policy.

Kind Regards walker

Edited January 22, 2011 by walker

[Sleep 10]

Arresting game cheaters is akin to arresting someone cheating their score on the golf course in a friendly game. Its not going to happen and God forbid the day it does.

The charge will be denying service of their internet. Thats always been a crime and rightly so.

More police state is not what this world needs.

[walker 0]

Sleep;1840481']Arresting game cheaters is akin to arresting someone cheating their score on the golf course in a friendly game.

Hi [506th PIR]Sleep

I dissagree griefing is more akin to digging up the golf course and is now rightly being treated as a crime. The griefer is denying the persons who play the game from the service the game server supplies hense they are engaging in a denial of the servers intended service.

The more admins that follow this example the faster crackers decline will occur. As I said this example should act as an ecouragement for admins to do that; now that they know it will be treated as what it is; a crime.

Kind Regards walker

[Sleep 10]

Digging up a golf course is destroying property. Resulting in a loss of revenue.

[walker 0]

Hi [506th PIR]Sleep

Servers have to be paid for by their admins and communities. They place them there to perform the function of acting as a game server.

Any one who griefs that function is denying the admin/community the service they have paid for resulting in loss of the service/property they paid for ipso facto; denial of service and direct reduction in the monetary value of the service they paid for hence a crime.

The police and courts certainly think so and the griefer criminal ends up in jail.

And like everyone else in the community I am happy to see such griefer criminals in jail. Of More practical use is that their computers are confiscated and that they are banned form using the internet.

Kind Regards walker

Edited January 22, 2011 by walker

[Taxman 10]

Certainly agree with Walker over this,,,, but unfortunately I very much doubt that other than the occasional case its unlikely that we are gonna see any change from the hackers as a result..

[Sleep 10]

Hi [506th PIR]Sleep

Servers have to be paid for by their admins and communities. They place them there to perform the function of acting as a game server.

Any one who griefs that function is denying the admin/community the service they have paid for resulting in loss of the service/property they paid for ipso facto; denial of service and direct reduction in the monetary value of the service they paid for hence a crime.

The police and courts certainly think so and the griefer criminal ends up in jail.

And like everyone else in the community I am happy to see such griefer criminals in jail. Of More practical use is that their computers are confiscated and that they are banned form using the internet.

Kind Regards walker

I understand where youre coming from but first of you would have to prove loss of income and or damages, serious proof isn't possible with this set of admin tools. Even of you recorded something it isn't going to be acceptable in any court of law, its too easy to fake.

All that I want is for this game to be properly secured but thats a different thread.

[Spartan 163 0]

Sleep;1840582']I understand where youre coming from but first of you would have to prove loss of income and or damages' date=' serious proof isn't possible with this set of admin tools. Even of you recorded something it isn't going to be acceptable in any court of law, its too easy to fake.

All that I want is for this game to be properly secured but thats a different thread.[/quote']

Now that you pointed out that probably nothing will happen to the ARMA script kiddies I guess we will see an increase again. Thanks for shooting this down. :(

[dm 9]

May I suggest a topic title change?

Crackers are traditionally groups like Reloaded or Skidrow who actually create cracks for the game, not really involved in this story...

Hackers are traditionally groups of people who write the hacks.

Griefers are traditionally the idiots that actually use this shit in game to mess it up.

Cheaters are traditionally the idiots that actually use this shit in game to improve their score.

Any cursory glance into the "dark underbelly" of the internet and you'll see that all 4 groups are just as healthy as they ever were.

Its kinda funny, on the one hand we've got threads where you tell us not to believe the sensationalist nonsense and on the other we've got threads like this where you get all sensationalist over one story.

Also de ja vus anyone?

[Tankbuster 1747]

Ah... the 'head lies' thread! *wipes away a wistful tear*

Whenever I need confirmation there's someone nuttier than me, that always hits the spot.

Kind regards,

Tankbuster

Edited January 23, 2011 by Tankbuster
added 'kind regards'. Don't leave home without them.

[walker 0]

Hi All

My basic point is simple if your server is attacked by such numpties you have a legal solution to remove them that works!

As to my choice of language DM you must already know, it is nuanced and intended.

And since we know the numbers of crackers is small (less than 40) and on the decline; and since it is one of their self stated aims to insert in game forums troll threads/posts designed to boost the profile of their childish activities; I see no reason not to counter the threads they start/maintain.

In the vein of "They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue."

They grief our servers and boast of it on forums and Youtube, we put one of theirs in jail!

I see no reason in the world not to crow about this, of course if you want to be a pussy, you can like several of the knockers in this thread, bend over and take it up where the sun dont shine. And among said knockers it is not outside the possibilities that we have one of said griefers so you will forgive the skepticism about the purpose of such posts.

Or you can just look at it as I do and say; there are less than 40 of them, lock a few of them up and one will spill the beans on the others, and bye bye crackers.

Psychology

Probably it is just bad genetics or maybe their mum molested them as a baby and they miss it.

The psychology of griefers is the same as those who pull the wings off butterflies and torture the local cats. The police even think so and include the activity in the psyche profiles for serial killers, pedos, arsonists and rapists.

If you get your jollies off causing others grief then they obviously have the same psychology.

That is part of the reason the police see it as important to nip such behaviour in the bud.

..."Programmes marketed in order to disrupt the online infrastructure not only affect individual players but have commercial and reputational consequences for the companies concerned," said Detective Inspector Paul Hoare of the Police Central e-crime Unit (PCeU), which was involved in the arrest.

"These games attract both children and young people to the online environment and this type of crime can often be the precursor to further offending in more traditional areas of online crime," he said...

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=3252762

As always follow the link to the original article

Crackers and script kiddies, inhabit badly run servers

On the main point, I have not seen many crackers or script kiddies on any of the well run servers, I veer toward the personal opinion that much of this is servers that are not correctly configured. And we know it is the crackers stated policy to run fake servers in order to boost their jolies. Take this into account. ;)

Solution Number 1.

As others have said use Battle Eye, GUID banning and signatures, kills off 99% of numpties. There are other solutions:

Solution Number 2.

Use a coms package and insist on people joining first in order to get the server pass word. You can include a license with this that they are required to agree, which makes any future criminal proceedings easier to bring. It is a lot harder to change your voice than hide your IP behind a proxy server.

Solution Number 3.

There is a long term solution that has always worked in the OFP/ArmA community; play on locked and private servers, that is why all the big clans are private, these numpties have never been able to get to the majority of the ArmA community because it is, and will remain, hidden from them. The majority of the community only see a cracker or script kiddie once in a blue moon.

Solution Number 4.

A lot of private servers use gigantic mod folders, requiring regular updates, specific to their community, this takes time to download and because a real IP has to be used to get any decent speed; unless they are paying through the nose for bandwidth on a proxy service, and it is a simple matter to IP BAN THEM, with either their own IP or if using Proxy you whois the IP any way, then when you see its a range and you just ban the whole range' You can also get a list of Proxy server IP ranges and ban them all before you even start, use Google to find the lists like this one:

http://www.iblocklist.com/lists.php

Plus, you are fining them 25 Dollars a month to use a proxy server! And They have to pay for each range they obtain without even a guarantee it will work!

Solution Number 5.

If you want to get really radical use addon tickets, include a license that requires them not to missuse the addon as this helps in any criminal case, basically you create a one time small addon with signature check. Each session you download the small addon change from a secure coms package such as skype, voice ID once again, you only give access to this out over your coms package because it requires a secure traceable login. And you can get Skype to chase after them for miss-using the comms package, just by reporting them!

Making it more trouble for the cracker/script kiddie than it is worth

The key factor with all those four solutions is: that you create such a convoluted path for them to follow each time they get caught, that it takes them hours or even days plus money to get in and each time it gets harder, until it is just not fun for them any more.

Solution Number 6. The Law. AND IT IS FREE!!

If they are Griefing the server and preventing the admin/community from achieving the service they are paying for, to whit ruinning their game, or altering data on the server or stealing, altering, or obtaining passwords via fraud; then they have broken the Law. Report it to your server provider and the police. If you have proof that a forum is providing services to people to do such criminal activity then report them too, that is in fact a more serious crime as it is inherently conspiracy.

It is a crime pure and simple. Contact the police in your country, they have the resources to trace who is doing it, it is free! You do not need a lawyer to do it. You just report the crime.

At least one member of the ArmA community already did this and the police went after the criminal. And the recent arrest and jailing proves that the police take it seriously.

He just followed this link to the US Cyber crime website.

http://www.ic3.gov/

In the UK you can, as Activision did, use this link.

http://www.ceop.police.uk/reportabuse/

In the Holland it would be this link

http://www.meldpuntcybercrime.nl/english_information.html

Interpol also has a link

http://www.interpol.int/

Google seach for "Cyber crime police" in your mother tongue to find your own countries Cyber crime reporting site.

Virtually every country in the world has laws that make unauthorised changing of data on someone elses server a crime! Just use this link to find your country to find the relevant law to quote to your police service.

http://www.cybercrimelaw.net/Cybercrimelaw.html

To reiterate they are not hackers, at the most they are crackers and script kiddies as many others in many other threads have pointed out. So I think the thread title is the correct one.

Kind Regards walkers

Edited January 23, 2011 by walker

[dm 9]

Wall of text aside, they're still not crackers. They dont crack anything. They use cheats someone else has created to cause grief on the server. They're griefers. :j:

[walker 0]

They're griefers. :j:

Hi DM

Yes they are Griefers! but they are also completely and utterly Crackers!

Kind Regards walker

[Tankbuster 1747]

Kind Regards walkers

Pfft. You can't even spell your own surname right.

[dm 9]

Hi DM

Yes they are Griefers! but they are also completely and utterly Crackers

I'm still not sure how? They arent cracking anything, so how can they be crackers? Unless you're using the racial slur?

[walker 0]

Hi DM

I am from the UK and not the US

You are talking about "a cracker"

I am talking about some one "Who is crackers"

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crackers

As I said, carefully chosen and nuanced.

I surprised at those who find it neccassary to defend such crackers, while there may be an argument that such crackers should be in care or an appropriate hospital facility their actions are obviously abberant and not deserving of any defence.

I am open to a change of the thread title to: "Crackers now face jail and decline"

Kind Regards walker

[11aTony 0]

I still suggest to change the thread tittle to avoid confusion.

[dm 9]

Hi DM

I am from the UK and not the US

So am I. What I'm saying is that in the context of your thread, it reads like "people who make it possible to access the game illegally decline".

Remember, we Brits make up a fairly small portion of this community, so our slang can be lost on everyone else. Hell, I'm a Brit and even I didn't know you were talking about crazy people rather than people who circumvent DRM...

I am open to a change of the thread title to: "Crackers now face jail and decline"

That still doesnt make it any clearer, if you want to use it in terms of crazy people, and be technically accurate, then the thread title should be "Idiots who grief servers now face possible jail and their numbers might be in decline".

Because right now, all ESL's and most Americans will have no idea that you mean griefers and not the afforementioned DRM circumventors.

Edit: Oh, and it was always my understanding that "crackers" when used to describe someone always had to be used predicatively, i.e. "he is crackers". Just saying "crackers" to describe a group of people is, well, crackers....

Edited January 23, 2011 by DM

[walker 0]

Hi DM

As I said the title is deliberate and nuanced. To reiterate yet again they are not hackers, at the most they are crackers and script kiddies as many others in many other threads have pointed out. So I think the thread title is the correct one.

That some one being ({a} {Cracker}s) {of a computer} is a pejorative, is fully intended.

Of course a hacker would get the joke but a cracker or script kiddy never could.

The primary thing is that the crackers now face jail.

Kind Regards walker

Edited January 23, 2011 by walker

[dale0404 5]

Oh my God!

What the hell are you 2 on about? At first glance this thread is about people getting on to servers and hacking into them.

Then you talk about people just being script kiddies who do this to improve their own score by cheating etc.

Decide what this thread is about and then change the title to reflect this.

DM, you have a point about the ambiguous nature of this thread, I am also from the UK and got lost in the 'nuance' of this thread. :rolleyes:

walker, I am not sure what you are trying to achieve by this thread but somehow I think it has totally backfired on you.

---------- Post added at 03:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:10 PM ----------

Just read this thread again and to a degree you do have a point walker. Just wish you had described things a lot better...

[dm 9]

Walker, you're effing nuts.

The first post of this thread is about how someone who DDoS'd a server is facing criminal charges (which is good)

But you called him crackers (meaning insane), which also made sense. But you're also using it to describe anyone who attacks a server as a "cracker" which is clearly wrong.

You need to stop trying to be such a smartarse (pretty much all the ESL's and even most of the EFL's dont get wtf you're on about) about using "nuance" in your thread titles.

The guy arrested in the first post is not a cracker. He might be crackers, but he isnt actually a cracker.

So your title and all your following posts all lead to making less and less sense.

Hes not a cracker, crackers are not facing any renewed "crackdown" (yeah, I know :j: ) this is all about DDoS, that it happens to have affected a game is mostly a happy coincidence.

To quote Homer Simpson; "if you dont start making more sense, we're gonna have to put you in a home".

[Zipper5 74]

I think it's safe to say nothing good is going to come out of this thread. Well, except for the knowledge that someone was rightly punished for their actions.

Thread locked.