Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chinese Game Operator Used DDoS Attacks On Rivals

Posted by Soulskill on from the world-of-latencycraft dept.

carusoj writes "An attack by a Chinese online game provider meant to cripple the servers of its rivals ballooned to cause an Internet outage in much of the country in May, according to police. The escalation began with a distributed denial-of-service attack on a domain registrar that serves many small gaming companies. While the national scale of the effects was unusual, such attacks are common among some small Internet businesses competing to draw customers in China, security researchers say. Police have arrested four people involved in the attack."

28 comments

  1. eh? by Dyinobal · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone else get confused with the word "game boss" in the title? I started to think about Yogg Sauron DDosing people.

    1. Re:eh? by tkinnun0 · · Score: 1

      Every moderator who got confused mod parent up!

    2. Re:eh? by Dyinobal · · Score: 1

      Seemed someone fixed it to game operator now.

    3. Re:eh? by lerser · · Score: 1

      Anyone else get confused with the word "game boss" in the title? I started to think about Yogg Sauron DDosing people.

      Yep. But here's http://forum.sdlive.ru/ much more information.

  2. Game Over....... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1P (Insert Coin) 2P (Insert Coin)

    1. Re:Game Over....... by Sebilrazen · · Score: 1
      After performing market research, and factoring in inflation, your post has been updated to reflect the sad reality:

      1P (Insert Coins) 2P (Insert Coins)

      --
      "There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche.
    2. Re:Game Over....... by lavacano201014 · · Score: 1

      After performing market research, and factoring in inflation, your post has been updated to reflect the sad reality:

      1P (Insert First Born) 2P (Insert First Born)

      That's what it seems like to me, personally...

      --
      A wise man once said, "Where is my other quotation mark?
  3. Happens all the time in China by Ritz_Just_Ritz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The only notable deviation is that the perps were "detained" in this case and the disruption was large enough that it got some unwanted attention.

    Translation: The government cronies paid off by the "detained" individuals had less power than the government officials paid off by people inconvenienced by the DDOS attack.

    It wouldn't have made the news at all except the bumbling "hackers" and the bag man (who rented the servers) managed to let their private commercial dispute disrupt DNS services in a couple of provinces. These bag men are just proxies for people in positions of power in the government who are profiting by skimming profits from these illegal servers.

    *shrug*

    1. Re:Happens all the time in China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Certainly reinforces my view that China is, for business purposes, still the wild fucking west. The Chinese also have an odd sense of fairness compared to elsewhere, a neurotic desire to save face by denying any wrong doing even in the face of overwhelming evidence, and an astounding ability to rationalize truly horrendous acts if the benefit from them.

      Yes, there's plenty they do well that other countries would benefit from emulating, but the trade off is a truly cut throat view of business and social interaction in general.

    2. Re:Happens all the time in China by hamburgler007 · · Score: 1

      Yes, its not like businesses in any other country fit your description of the Chinese...

    3. Re:Happens all the time in China by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      But at least business in ther countries know that what they are doing is unethical: they just fail to care. Chinese on the other hand see these actions as being completely normal.

    4. Re:Happens all the time in China by Publikwerks · · Score: 1

      I think that situations like this will become more and more visible. In a case of "live by the sword, die by the sword" the Chinese attitude towards their hacker community will become more of an issue. Much like gun violence is an issue in the United States, the abundance of oppertunities to develop the skill sets needed for basic net-tomfoolery will make this an issue for China.

    5. Re:Happens all the time in China by internettoughguy · · Score: 1

      [citation needed]

    6. Re:Happens all the time in China by rtb61 · · Score: 2, Informative

      The hacker community as presented in China by the government of China, aren't necessarily the back yarders that the government of China likes to pretend that they are. With the extensive corruption, a lot of those hackers are paid professionals and, often government agents. This is going to get really out of hand, there will be some interesting political shenanigans going on as technology is used more and more in their political manoeuvrings, disconnections, source private information for leverage, disrupt income sources and simple revenge attacks.

      You could see China getting cut off from the net as these attacks spread off shore.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  4. rough business by OrangeTide · · Score: 2, Funny

    Everyone sending out attacks against rivals to the point that some find it difficult to afford to operate their business. Maybe if all the rivals could be civil they wouldn't have to waste money attacking one another and could instead use the money to grow their business or just keep the money as extra profit. Ultimately it is the customers that suffer because no matter which of these little businesses they try to use the service is going to suck. What ever happen to spending money on better advertising? I thought it was only American cable companies that felt it necessary to sabotage the competition.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
    1. Re:rough business by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hard to sabotage the competition when there is no competition in the American cable industry.

    2. Re:rough business by OrangeTide · · Score: 1

      Maintaining regional monopolies through government lobbying is the most aggressive form of anti-competitive behavior.

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  5. Why? by hamburgler007 · · Score: 1

    I mean, is it really worth it? Isn't this the kind of behavior in China that earns you a bullet in the back of the head?

    1. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depends on whether or not you caused loss of face to someone(s) high enough in the government who can have you shot.

    2. Re:Why? by vertinox · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I mean, is it really worth it? Isn't this the kind of behavior in China that earns you a bullet in the back of the head?

      Depends on who you bribe and who you piss off.

      --
      "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
      -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  6. Warcraft by unlametheweak · · Score: 3, Funny

    Chinese Game Operator Used DDoS Attacks On Rivals

    All is faire in love and Warcraft.

    1. Re:Warcraft by Sawopox · · Score: 1

      This would have made a great "metagame" for the Matrix online or some similar cyberpunk style MMO.
      Ping flood the n00bs!

      --
      [http://it-tastes-so-good.blogspot.com] Are you hungry?
    2. Re:Warcraft by Errtu76 · · Score: 1

      But if this becomes a habit, it'll be the end of the world

      of Warcraft

  7. Re:eh? MOD DOWN!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You've just been wanking too much, again.

  8. The effect of culture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think this is very likely a cultural thing. Dirty tactics like this are quite common in Asia.

    1. Re:The effect of culture by DigiShaman · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They're quite common all over the world. Three major examples come to mind here in America. Chicago, New York, and Washington DC.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  9. Ah... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Libertarianism at work!