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Phatbot Trojan Suspect Linked To Half-Life 2 Code Theft?

Posted by simoniker on from the uh-oh dept.

Thanks to Gamers With Jobs for its story claiming possible links between the theft of the Half-Life 2 code and the Phatbot trojan writer, following the arrest of the alleged Phatbot creator in Germany last week, as the site claims, regarding "Axel G., 21 years old and known under the nick 'Ago'", that "German IT news mag Heise.de did some investigation [German-language link] and according to their research Axel G. probably also was heavily involved in the Half-Life 2 code theft that happened more than 7 months ago", pointing particularly to an IRC log, available on a Half-Life 2 leak page since late last year, which has Ago allegedly saying "[Download speed] suxx, especially from valve to germany... i coded myself my own sourcesafe client to get it at full speed... i only used a simple null-session to a pc in valves net, that wasnt directly controlled by valve."

6 of 60 comments (clear)

  1. Re:People actually use SourceSafe? by bigbigbison · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, the founders of valve did used to work at Microsoft, so they probably either felt loyalty to their old employer, or had used it at MS and were used to it.

    --
    http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
  2. Re:Of course it wasn't stolen by Leffe · · Score: 3, Informative

    The code is of course copyrighted, meaning that he broke international copyright laws. That is kind of illegal.

  3. Re:Was the code actually stolen? by Spleener12 · · Score: 2, Informative
    It's not that they lost the code, it's that the fact that the code is availible makes it really easy for people to make cheats for HL2 and any mods, so they now have to re-write an assload of protocols in order to prevent this.

    I have no doubt in my mind that they're also using this delay to add some new features/areas/nifty stuff, tho.

  4. Re:Logs of private channels by nexex · · Score: 2, Informative
    aim has supported encryption for about a year

    ignore the bit about the cost, its free...

    --
    Winter 2010: With Glowing Hearts
  5. Re:Was the code actually stolen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Incorrect.

    If he isn't the original owner, then he is unauthorised to have a copy of it. Ergo, theft. This has been challenged with computer/IP laws before.

    Furthermore, since the company held off on the release of HL2, if they can, with any certifiable evidence, link this guy to the theft of the source, they can link damages to him. (Damages being cost to investigate mess, secure network, lost productivity as well as loss of profit for delayed release).

    Except him to pay lots of money and/or go to jail for a long time.

  6. Re:People actually use SourceSafe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Why was that modded funny? It's true! When I was there, any self-respecting group used SLM (Source Library Manager), aka "Slime". Only a few random groups in consumer division used VSS.