Consoles and MMOs: The new hackers paradise?

[GunnyMo]

I stumbled across an interesting article about hackers, consoles and MMOs (http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives/005334.html) this morning.

Gamers will be a major target for hackers this year according to Australian digital security experts, with online consoles and games like World of Warcraft at risk.

MacLeonard Starkey, Security Analyst for Auscert, Australia's national Computer Emergency Response Team, says malicious coders have set their sights on online games because of their growing popularity and the value of virtual items.

"We're seeing an awful lot of malicious code that will specifically target online games for the purposes of capturing the usernames and passwords of the users of those online games," says Mr Starkey.
Those of us who play WoW and other MMOs are aware of this type of hacking. It seems to me that it is harder than it should be to recover these items. Everything you do, say and collect within an MMO is stored on the host's servers. While it might take some time and, once proven to have been an actual hack, shouldn't you be able to (at the very least) get your character(s) back? There are several people in my WoW guild who were recently hacked and lost everything.

There is an interesting comment at the end of the article.

With online functionality now ubiquitous for games consoles, Mr Starkey says hackers will also increasingly explore any possible security vulnerabilities on dedicated gaming machines.

"I haven't see any malicious code which is specifically designed to run on a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox, but I would expect that stuff is not very far away at all."
I would also suggest the Wii as a target due to its option of being online "all the time".

Thanks to Opposable Thumbs (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars) for the original link.

[Meusli]

Flipping heck, its getting ridiculous the amount of stuff flying around trying to do you harm or steal stuff. About the Xbox360 and PS3 part how does one get to do that I thought it was a closed network, especially Live which as far as I am aware does not really go onto the internet as such?

[Johan]

No different than walking the street or shopping in a store; people are trying to pick your pocket or rob you, so vigilance is ever-necessary. :(

[shnastybiznastic]

I don't know about malicious behavior, but I do like to see what I can get my hardware to do on my own time, and having a vulnerability in there keeps that simple.

[f1sh3r]

wow puts the blame squarely on you, regardless of the circumstances. trust me, check out the customer service forum and you'll see the hundreds of wannabe mods parroting their policy of "you lost your password, your fault, and we always assume you were doing something wrong." when you are rolling in cash you can afford to piss off your customers i guess.

[51|RandoM]

Of course MMOs are a big target. There is a profit motive attached to hacking a MMO that just isn't there for elite CS hacks.

People aren't paying real world money so they can afford an ak every round in CS, are they? You've got idiots lining up to spend real world cash on virtual wang in the MMO business.

[Serapth]

God I hate these security groups, fear mongers extrodinare.

Yes, worms are targeting username/password information on PC's for MMO games, and have for years. Nothing to see here, and if you are infected with a worm... be glad its yanking your WoW password, not your online banking information.

As to consoles... signed code makes a hacker all but gimped for attacking them. Hey, they may try, but given that users cant easily install arbitrary software unless they have hacked their console, they arent going to be very successful.

[silv]

I stumbled across an interesting article about hackers, consoles and MMOs (http://blogs.theage.com.au/screenplay/archives/005334.html) this morning.


Those of us who play WoW and other MMOs are aware of this type of hacking. It seems to me that it is harder than it should be to recover these items. Everything you do, say and collect within an MMO is stored on the host's servers. While it might take some time and, once proven to have been an actual hack, shouldn't you be able to (at the very least) get your character(s) back? There are several people in my WoW guild who were recently hacked and lost everything.

There is an interesting comment at the end of the article.


I would also suggest the Wii as a target due to its option of being online "all the time".

Thanks to Opposable Thumbs (http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars) for the original link.

I know friends who have gotten hacked and have gotten virtually everything back. The key is you gotta know basically what you had in your bags, but they do know what you had equipped at the time. You don't get money back though.