'Counter-Strike' Gets Invaded By An Unblockable Chat-Bot (kotaku.com)

An anonymous reader writes: "At least one intruder is taking advantage of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive exploit to flood lobbies (even private ones) with text from chat bots that can't be kicked," writes Engadget. The attack "allegedly comes from one person," according to Kotaku, which reports that "It's a similar exploit to one found a few weeks ago, where typing messages into a lobby allowed users to rank up and down as they chose." The chat bot's text includes various complaints about Counter-Strike which it claims motivated the attack, including cheaters, hackers and "bugs that break the game," and it urges a one-day boycott "to proof [sic] them that we care about the game and want them to fix it."

Comments

Caring

[Calydor]

"I hack and exploit the game because I care about it and want it fixed!"

"I rob banks because I care about them and want them to have better security!"

Re:Caring

[jopsen]

"I hack and exploit the game because I care about it and want it fixed!"

"I rob banks because I care about them and want them to have better security!"

Using an exploit to highlight the exploit and lack of support, is not exactly the same as robbing a bank.

It's more like walking into the bank vault through an unlocked backdoor and then proceeding to call the bank manager to complain about security measures.
(okay, maybe the kid jumped a tiny garden fence before walking over to the backdoor, but it's more like that).

When people demonstrate an exploit their intent matters. Same thing applies when demonstrating a broken lock.

Re:Caring

[war4peace]

Improper analogy.
Let me rework it.
"I walked through this overlooked hole in the fence and tapped you on the shoulder while you were sun tanning in your backyard, telling you to fix it".

Re:Caring

[Gussington]

Using an exploit to highlight the exploit and lack of support, is not exactly the same as robbing a bank.

Yes it is. If I figure out that a certain sequence of events gets me into the vault and out again with as much money as I like, then I can choose to notify the bank, or publish it in the interest of customers. Those are the ethical and legal options. I have no right then to rob then bank if because they ignored me. It is still illegal regardless of how cool you think it is.

Re:Caring

[murdocj]

Sounds a lot more obnoxious than that. More like they took off the tires of the car and piled them in the rear seat because the car was unlocked.

Re:Caring

[redmid17]

It's not even remotely similar in scope or detail. I can't and won't say it's benign, but you have to be high or a moron to equate a chat bot with armed assault and theft of physical property.

Here's to hoping you smoke a joint before you wrote this post.

Re:Caring

[drinkypoo]

I have no right then to rob then bank if because they ignored me. It is still illegal regardless of how cool you think it is.

Yes, that would be illegal. And what he is actually doing is also illegal. He's not taking anything from the bank. What he's doing is equivalent to breaking into the bank vault, which is visible from the bank floor for the purposes of this simile, and shouting at the customers about how shit the bank security is to the point that they can't talk to the tellers and actually conduct any business. It's trespassing, it's harassment, it's denial of service, but it is not theft. This is basically the copyright infringement vs. theft argument all over again. Just like that argument, we know it is different because there are whole bodies of law which apply specifically to what he is actually doing. If everything you didn't like were theft, we would only need laws about theft. That's not how the world works, so please, stop shouting theft.

Cheating at Tournaments

[Drakster]

Although I don't play CS:GO, I have heard it has a major cheating problem. The worst part about this is that it doesn't only occur on random online servers, this occurs at major tournaments with prize pools of thousands.

As the hacker mentions, Valve makes some major cash from CS:GO, being one of their most popular games. They should be doing a lot more to prevent it.

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Calydor]

No, the worst part about this is that there are professional tournaments with prizes ranging in the thousands and millions for a computer game.

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Avarist]

No, the worst part about this is that there are professional tournaments with prizes ranging in the thousands and millions for a computer game.

Someone is stuck in the 20th century. Move along with the times. A hundred years ago people were saying the exact same thing about people playing just a 'game' aka football. There isn't much difference betweeen regular sports, chess, and computer games.

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Gussington]

Although I don't play CS:GO, I have heard it has a major cheating problem. The worst part about this is that it doesn't only occur on random online servers, this occurs at major tournaments with prize pools of thousands.

As the hacker mentions, Valve makes some major cash from CS:GO, being one of their most popular games. They should be doing a lot more to prevent it.

So how is this different from say cycling?

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Gussington]

No, the worst part about this is that there are professional tournaments with prizes ranging in the thousands and millions for a computer game.

Games of skill played for cash prizes are a surprise to you? Have you just woken from a coma out of the 19th century?

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Quakeulf]

I must admit I still play the CS:GO regularly.

I have also played with and against cheaters quite regularly and have been told through the in-game menu that players I have played with in previous matches have been permanently banned for cheating and had my match statistics readjusted to reflect that, as it seems matches with cheaters get voided.

It's really annoying, and especially when it gets really evident like when you sneak towards a corner making no sounds and the guy around just knows you are getting close and starts prefiring. This happens way more often than it should, and reporting users seems not to work.

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[Mashiki]

So to tournament organizers for cycling, and the bike manufactures, and then there's the clothing folks, and on, and on, and on. Failing to see a problem here, except that some people are stuck in 1973.

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[DontBeAMoran]

Have you just woken from a coma out of the 19th century?

I'm actually from the 27th century, but whatever...

Games of skill played for cash prizes are a surprise to you?

What the fuck is "cash"?

Re:Cheating at Tournaments

[ZeRu]

Chess can be played in 500 years same as we play it today. So can football, baseball, any sport you can think of.

Except car racing, which is constantly evolving, just like computer games (and has a lot more common with e-sports than chess or football). It, however, isn't an olympic sport, and I think it shouldn't be (even though I'm a big fan of it) since that would force the car racing to submit into certain cliches, removing the charm that comes from every track and car being different.

Racing cars get replaced my more modern version and so do competitive video games, but the main premise won't change much for as long as it has clear and attractive goals. Even CS:GO has the same basic rules as the original CounterStrike that got released 20 years ago.

Not that easy

[Artem S. Tashkinov]

It's almost impossible to eradicate cheaters in CS:GO and similar games for one important reason: CS:GO servers send you full information about all the gamers who're playing the match with you, which means it's quite trivial to intercept this information and modify certain game engine variables to e.g. make other players visible though the walls (wallhack) or to make your bullets always reach the destination (aimbot). Now even if you don't send all the information, the game still has to show other visible nearby players to you, so dealing with aimbots seems like a lost game.

Speaking frankly I've got no idea if this problem can be fixed at all except for controlled LAN matches (but even then we've had reports that certain cheaters made through by bringing their cheat programs inside their mice - the mouse is connected via USB which makes it trivial to extend its internals to include a mass storage device).

To give Valve credit they're now testing an AI to detect cheaters. They do it because it's virtually impossible to detect cheat applications using any sort of matching (like antiviruses do).

Re:The hacker cares more than Valve

[murdocj]

Well, then play a different game, no?

Re: The hacker cares more than Valve

[murdocj]

So I'm not allowed to comment, comrade trump?