A while back as I'm sure many of you still remember some hackers stole some code from Valve's network (from the Half-Life 2 game). Looks like now after thousands of tips the hackers where tracked down. What's funny is how fast the entire gamming community worked together to catch these cyber-criminals. If only other cyber-crimes had this type of help. All I can say is thanks for those who helped to track them down. Oh yeah nerds rule! :)

Arrests have been made in several countries related to the break-in to Valve's network, theft of the Half-Life 2 source code, and release of the source code on the Internet. "Within a few days of the announcement of the break-in, the online gaming community had tracked down those involved," said Gabe Newell, Valve's CEO. "It was extraordinary to watch how quickly and how cleverly gamers were able to unravel what are traditionally unsolvable problems for law enforcement related to this kind of cyber-crime."

Thousands of tips were received related to the criminal activities, with a core group of people who were able to analyze and backtrack from these clues. Subsequent to these individuals being identified, Valve has been working with various national authorities to prepare cases against those involved, leading to these arrests.

News source: ComputerGames

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There are 60 additional comments
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(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #1 Posted by INFERNO2k on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:11
Old news.
Quote this comment #1.1 Posted by riahc3 on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:30
QUOTE (#1.0)
Old news.

If its old news why do you read it or even post a comment??? Im pretty sure you didnt know it and are just posting to appear "cool" and like you know everything.

anyways

Im glad they cyber-criminals were caught. Should be given the death penalty for this

Quote this comment #1.2 Posted by shao on 11 Jun 2004 - 08:27
exactly why do they deserve the death penalty for this? At the very least it gave valve a flimsy excuse for not releasing the game when they initially said they would - you know, unlike every other game developer that just delays the game because it's not finished (eg, id @ doom3!). I dunno who they were kidding in the first place anyway.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #2 Posted by altermind on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:24
new to me........ hope the bloody game comes out soon.....
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #3 Posted by vetSMeK on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:27
"nerds rule" wasnt it nerds that hacked and stole the code in the first place ?

Quote this comment #3.1 Posted by vetmalebolgia on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:38
Yes, but in the end it was other nerds that helped to catch the previous nerds.
Quote this comment #3.2 Posted by vetToxicfume on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:47
NerdWars
Quote this comment #3.3 Posted by Jon on 11 Jun 2004 - 12:16
Supernerd to the rescue! (I hear they wear pants on the outside too)
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #4 Posted by Varsity on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:30
I thought there was only one person arrested, about 2 weeks ago and a LONG time after the actual leak.
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #5 Posted by O'Connor's a Nub on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:31
Saw it on Gamespot two weeks ago.
Quote this comment #5.1 Posted by perochan on 10 Jun 2004 - 23:54
good for you
Quote this comment #5.2 Posted by chacho on 11 Jun 2004 - 01:18
no one cares.
Quote this comment #5.3 Posted by divertom15 on 11 Jun 2004 - 07:09
wow your thoughts and your username add up buddy
(4 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #6 Posted by AfmomasTER on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:33
to bad it was all a conspiracy and they were no where near done and now it looks like poo compared to a lot of big named games

even doom looks better now
Quote this comment #6.1 Posted by Radium on 11 Jun 2004 - 13:53
Doom III have always looked better... Half-Life 2 doesn't have a chance when it comes to graphics.
Quote this comment #6.2 Posted by AfroTrance on 11 Jun 2004 - 14:00
Graphics make a good engine not a good game.
Quote this comment #6.3 Posted by chacho on 11 Jun 2004 - 19:57
QUOTE (#6.2)
Graphics make a good engine not a good game.

first of all, lets not start graphics v. gameplay flamewar

secondly, what are you talking about?? neither graphics nor a "good game" make a "good engine"...the "engine" that is commonly talked about in games is what generates the graphics. you dont know what you are talking about.
Quote this comment #6.4 Posted by DsnBehind on 12 Jun 2004 - 03:20
QUOTE (#6.3)
what are you talking about?? neither graphics nor a "good game" make a "good engine"...the "engine" that is commonly talked about in games is what generates the graphics. you dont know what you are talking about.

lol
(3 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #7 Posted by 56kmanV3 on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:37
Quote "Old news."

Wow todays the 10th when arrests happerned and u knew ages ago ? Can i have a go in ya time machine plz.

Last edited by 56475 on 11 Jun 2004 - 14:41
Quote this comment #7.1 Posted by chacho on 11 Jun 2004 - 01:19
ok, thats the third damn "old news" comment so far. CUT IT! NO ONE CARES WHEN YOU LEARNED ABOUT IT, WE DONT KNOW YET.

edit: way to change your post from an old news complaint to that to make my post look like an uncalled-for troll...

Last edited by 36614 on 11 Jun 2004 - 19:58
Quote this comment #7.2 Posted by NeoTrunks on 11 Jun 2004 - 03:50
He's basically asking how could it be old news if the arrests were made today.
Quote this comment #7.3 Posted by FISKER_Q on 11 Jun 2004 - 18:13
Well Valve already said before E3 they would be releasing a press release soon.

And i doubt they wanted to release one about the 1 year spent on not finding them.

The press release is new though.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #8 Posted by Varsity on 10 Jun 2004 - 20:43
Nope, I'm wrong. It's news.

http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?...895583-79372100
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #9 Posted by Raven on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:04
Just because it's 'old news' to you doesn't mean it's old news to me. I appreciated Neowin bringing this to my attention. We can't visit every website with news.

Thanks Neowin!
Quote this comment #9.1 Posted by SIG on 10 Jun 2004 - 23:06
Agreed!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #10 Posted by C64afx on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:13
Saying 'old news' is just ****ing annoying...
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #11 Posted by EmuZombie on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:24
To everyone who said this is old news: How could it be old news if IT JUST HAPPENED?

It's so funny how many people here on neowin fit my list of stereotypes......

Quote this comment #11.1 Posted by [Rob.Baker] on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:33
I remember reading an article on a guy who's computer was taken away by the police...
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #12 Posted by python134r on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:39
No, the thefts are"old news". The arrests are not. "The wheels of justice grind very slow but very fine".
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #13 Posted by yert* on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:46
I thought the arrests were made weeks/months ago
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #14 Posted by Surr3al on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:47
New to me, GG valve, GG.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #15 Posted by Vaichilds on 10 Jun 2004 - 21:57
Axl G. is the person to whom you all are referring too. He is known as "Ago" online and the person responsible for the making of HATBOT or AGOABOT

He was arrested in Germany maybe 1-2 weeks(And not due to HL2 Source Leak!!) prior to the arrest of NetSky/Sasser writer was busted. I have a log of an IRC conv. taken about 4 weeks ago off the web that pertains to the investigation of AGO being the guy who is SOLEY responsible for the theft of the source code. He then handed the code off to others to compile and then release.

Gabe Newell's FTP to $/HL2/release/dev which was controlled by www.tangis.com but linked to within the Valve network. They didn't control this as much as they should have.
passwords for that day:

GABE NEWELL

USERNAME: gaben
PASSWORD: ElAhraira2002

Username: ftpuser
Password: ftpuser1

Username: gareth
Password: Password1

Here is Ago's netmask that day
frb9-d9bb4a51.pool.mediaWays.net
Quote this comment #15.1 Posted by Zelpus on 11 Jun 2004 - 02:27
looks like they are really protecting themselves with the ftpuser / ftpuser1 ....
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #16 Posted by Palmeiro on 10 Jun 2004 - 22:21
QUOTE
Oh yeah nerds rule!


I prefer GEEK,
thank you very much!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #17 Posted by perochan on 10 Jun 2004 - 23:56
lol, ill bet those who r involved wanted the source codes too. probably one of the reason to help out.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #18 Posted by l77Il7H on 11 Jun 2004 - 03:06
aww that's so sad! lord have mercy on those criminal. they were only trying to show us the light of valve's deception.
Quote this comment #18.1 Posted by Vaichilds on 11 Jun 2004 - 05:21
I will say that is what it looks like
Quote this comment #18.2 Posted by ANova on 11 Jun 2004 - 08:44
Maybe. Or maybe they were simply impatient nerds with nothing better to do who were cross at Valve for not getting what they wanted when they wanted.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #19 Posted by MaceX on 11 Jun 2004 - 03:20
I hope he is not guilty.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #20 Posted by obake on 11 Jun 2004 - 04:27
Awesome. Glad they got caught.
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #21 Posted by Groovedude on 11 Jun 2004 - 08:13
DoH
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #22 Posted by mrdan1286 on 11 Jun 2004 - 08:24
http://www.gtwy.net/hl2/another_log.txt
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #23 Posted by Jasco on 11 Jun 2004 - 08:56
The hackers that did this rocked, they showed the true face of Valve and their lies.
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #24 Posted by elliot on 11 Jun 2004 - 10:33
This is not old news.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3797167.stm

Look at the date, Friday 11th June 2004, so stfu
Quote this comment #24.1 Posted by Jon on 11 Jun 2004 - 12:15
Yes. Some people really need a slap IRL.
Quote this comment #24.2 Posted by DOGglee on 11 Jun 2004 - 16:19
lol i agree
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #25 Posted by OfF3nSiV3 on 11 Jun 2004 - 11:30
it happened today or yesterday..whomever says it's old news is wrong and should read news sites more often
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #26 Posted by Gary_Player on 11 Jun 2004 - 12:47
Uh Oh You'd think someone smart enough to hack in and steal it would be smart enough to cover their tracks a little better
(2 replies) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #27 Posted by sheer on 11 Jun 2004 - 13:49
I'm not sure it ever happened - you're telling me an outside source was able to download about a gig of data from Valve unnoticed?

Valve, knowing that they weren't gonna hit their shipping date, leaked enough to keep the fanboys happy and keep the wow factor going then attributed the leak to them being hacked.

And the entire gaming community got together to catch the hackers? yeah right. So who are those gaming cyber-sleuths? Why have we heard nothing about this criminal cyber-chase that's been going on?
Quote this comment #27.1 Posted by Magallanes on 11 Jun 2004 - 15:03
QUOTE (#27.0)
And the entire gaming community got together to catch the hackers? yeah right. So who are those gaming cyber-sleuths? Why have we heard nothing about this criminal cyber-chase that's been going on?

photo of cyber-cops!

Truly, they "hound" the hackers... yeah sure!.

A good hackers can be untraceable at all, hack some system, then use for hack another system, finally delete all trace (log for example) and you have a 99.9999% of protection. A buch of nerds can made nothing about it. Even more, to obtain some information, you need to contact to many ISP and they are tough for give some information (and the isp's logs can be delete in the time).

Maybe, they found a guy that "share" the HL2 source or a guy with a big-mouth that say "hey kids, i stole the hl2 code.."

Quote this comment #27.2 Posted by sheer on 11 Jun 2004 - 18:49
haha, nice pic
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #28 Posted by 905punk on 11 Jun 2004 - 14:29
whoever made this log -> http://www.gtwy.net/hl2/another_log.txt

has pissed off some very powerfull people, even with Ago out of action, I knew Ago a little and he was definately not one to be ****ed with. Between Z-Crew and FBK (not to say that everyone gets along in this scene....but if your identified as a nark your gonna get flanked from all sides.) im sure everyone will get 0wn3d who supplies info on this.
Quote this comment #28.1 Posted by MaceX on 12 Jun 2004 - 00:26
That's very interesting because the site is still up. I'm the most powerful person on the internet. ROAR
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #29 Posted by SW5 on 11 Jun 2004 - 16:12
http://www.gtwy.net/hl2/another_log.txt is NOT Real.


It was faked by somone unknown.
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #30 Posted by paulhaskew on 11 Jun 2004 - 16:13
when the entire net is after you good luck hiding... no matter how good you are, someone is better...
Quote this comment #30.1 Posted by LiGhTfast on 11 Jun 2004 - 20:22
You could just disconnect and or get a new alias
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #31 Posted by slimshady89 on 11 Jun 2004 - 19:57
what if I hack from say a public wi fi hot spot with my old stolen laptop... get hte code remove hte hdd from my STOLEN laptop and break hte laptop... is there any chance they can catch me now?
(1 reply) Quote this comment Reply to this comment #32 Posted by Lingwo on 11 Jun 2004 - 22:45
Code was stolen from valve?
Quote this comment #32.1 Posted by N_B on 13 Jun 2004 - 15:32
aahahah! Nice one!
Quote this comment Reply to this comment #33 Posted by EugeneE3RD on 15 Jun 2004 - 10:48
I'm glad that people involved with the break-in/stealing of Half-Life 2 source code are caught. The people who did this should be ashamed of themselves. Not only did they violate the law, they also caused a major delay in this game being released. If it wasn't for the jerks who stole the source code, the game would have probably been released by now.
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