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How Hackers Accidentally Sold a Pre-Release XBox One To the FBI

Posted by timothy on from the we-call-this-the-low-priority-unit dept.

SpacemanukBEJY.53u (3309653) writes Earlier this week, an indictment was unsealed outlining a long list of charges against a group of men that stole intellectual property from gaming companies such as Epic Games, Valve, Activision and Microsoft. An Australian member of the group, Dylan Wheeler, describes how it was betrayed by an informant working for the FBI, which bought a hardware mockup of an Xbox One that the group built using source code stolen from Microsoft's Game Developer Network Portal. The device, which the FBI paid $5,000 for, was supposed to be sent to the Seychelles, but never arrived, which indicated the hacking collective had a mole.

12 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Yay! by Njorthbiatr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Must mean they've already caught all the murderers, rapists, serial killers, and other dangerous criminals, now they have to turn to this.

    1. Re:Yay! by tibit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The cost of the human life is quite small compared to the value of the IP being disclosed here. Sad but true...

      --
      A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
    2. Re:Yay! by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Interesting

      And here I learn that laws can only be enforced when all more severe crimes have been fully handled.

      "Sorry, we can't pursue this murder of your child, Mr. Smith, the genocide in Darfur isn't resolved yet."

    3. Re:Yay! by Russ1642 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So someone could steal your car, steal your identity, destroy your business with a targeted hack, and you'd be fine with the police not investigating because there are still murderers and rapists out there? Alrighty then. Crime is crime and it all deserves to be investigated. Some crimes are worse but it's not like they put them in order, start with the murderers and completely ignore the rest.

    4. Re:Yay! by Dishevel · · Score: 2
      But a value does in fact exist.

      The Value of Life

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    5. Re:Yay! by Kyogreex · · Score: 2

      It should be obvious that when you rule with an iron fist, people will shy away from more serious crimes. The question is if people are really better off.

  2. They didn't accidentally anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Retitle: How an FBI mole stole a pre-release xbox one from hackers.

  3. Someone wanted an Xbox One at launch??? by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should have known it was a setup when someone offered to buy an Xbox One.

    I kid, I kid. ;-)

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:Someone wanted an Xbox One at launch??? by RogueyWon · · Score: 3, Informative

      Actually, lots of people wanted an Xbox One at launch. The XB1's sales curve has been really weird.

      It had pretty great month-1 sales. It would have had the fastest month-1 sales of any console in history - if it hadn't launched alongside the PS4 (which broke the previous records by an even larger margin). But some time shortly after Christmas, the sales basically flatlined. First MS switched to talking about "units shipped" rather than "units sold" and then it stopped issuing new numbers at all.

      By piecing together bits and pieces of retailer and regional sales data, it's possible to get a broad understanding of where the console stands now. Having originally been tipped to pass the Wii-U and take second-place in current gen sales somewhere around April, it appears that it probably only did so some time in September (and indeed, it certainly hasn't officially been announced yet, so there's at least an outside chance it's still in third). It's had several significant sales blips, driven first by the price cut when Kinnect was removed and then again by Destiny, but background sales outside of these blips have been generally very slow throughout 2014.

      It's actually pretty similar to (though marginally better than) the sales profile for the Wii-U. That console actually sold well during its first 6 weeks or so on sale, before flatlining. Each first-party Nintendo game since then has caused a small 1-week spike in sales, but after Mario Kart, diminishing returns appear to be kicking in.

      In regional terms, The Xbox One appears to be in a fairly solid second place in the US (behind the PS4), a distant second place in Europe (again behind the PS4) and third place in Japan. Indeed, the PS4 is also doing badly in Japan - home console gaming is dying in that market and even the Wii-U (which holds first place there) is doing badly compared to the last gen consoles.

      The Xbox One does still have a few big irons in the fire and isn't quite in a Wii-U style Last Chance Saloon yet (if Smash Bros and Bayonetta 2 don't turn around the Wii-U's fortunes this Christmas, the console essentially can be considered dead). Forza Horizon 2 is a fairly big draw and Halo 5 will be a bigger one. But MS have certainly gone backwards since the days of the 360, when they dominated the US and managed a reasonable draw with Sony in Europe. In marketshare terms, the Xbox One looks a lot more like the original Xbox.

      Though in general terms, this has been an extremely boring year for console games anyway. People get excited about new console releases, forgetting that they tend to be followed by 12 months during which there isn't much worth playing for them. It's always the later years of the cycle that are more fun in terms of game releases.

  4. How Hackers Got Money by Ksevio · · Score: 2

    Looks more like the "Hackers" took $5000 from the FBI. They could have just been scammers and not even had one.

    1. Re:How Hackers Got Money by tomhath · · Score: 2

      They could have been scammers, except they actually handed it over it to someone who said he would send it to the Seychelles. Turns out the person who picked it up was working for the FBI. After they took the money they were going to be arrested for either fraud or piracy.

  5. Nice to meet your mole! (Don't say "mole") by tippe · · Score: 2

    Moley-moley-moley-moley-moley!

    Ah man, I've got to watch Austin Powers again. What a classic!