A 23-year old UK man was arrested on November 24 for utilizing phishing websites to steal accounts from a popular browser-based game.

Jagex Games Studio, developer of RuneScape, announced the news in a press release, stating that the arrest reflects the company’s “zero tolerance stance against cyber crime.” Once Jagex learned of the theft of the accounts, the company contacted and collaborated with the Police Central e-Crime Unit (PCeU) to catch the perpetrator.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard commented:

Our internal investigations revealed that just a handful of individuals are responsible for over 95% of all account hijacking in RuneScape and we have a zero tolerance approach to anyone who attempts to undermine the integrity of our vibrant community. I would like to extend my sincerest appreciation to the professional and hard-working individuals at the PCeU and the FBI, who are assisting us with similar actions in the USA.

PCeU is a division of the Metropolitan Police. A PCeU spokesperson added, “People who seek to destroy others online gaming experience could be committing criminal offences, leaving themselves liable to prosecution.”

Tuesday afternoon, Jack Thompson sent me his press release announcing that he was suing Facebook “for posting “Jack Thompson Groups” that call for his death and physical harm.”

Thompson sent three faxes to Facebook’s CEO demanding the immediate removal of the offending groups but after five weeks had received no response and the groups remained where they were.

I asked Thompson if he had tried simply clicking on the Report Group link (found at the bottom of every Facebook group) or emailing abuse@facebook.com.  According to the Facebook Safety page, complaints submitted via these methods will be addressed within 24 hours and those who email will receive a response within 72 hours detailing what actions, if any, were taken.

He responded by calling me a “total moron.”

So, I browsed Facebook and found about 80 Jack Thompson groups.  Most were of the “I Hate Jack Thompson” or “Jack Thompson is a Douche” variety but I did find three that condoned violence towards the man.  I picked a group called “I will pay $50 to anyone who punches Jack Thompson in the face” and clicked the Report Group link.  Unsurprisingly, the group was removed less than a day later. (Old link to the now deleted group)

Incidentally, this particular group turned out to be the first of four cited in Thompson’s complaint. 

So, you’re welcome, Thompson. 

Glad I could help.
 
-Reporting from San Diego, GamePolitics Senior Correspondent Andrew Eisen...

There is a bizarre report from Korea today about a man who authorities say launched a denial of service attack on the nation's game content ratings board.

According to JoongAng Daily, the man, identified only as Choi, age 39, is the CEO of a company that helps game developers with the content rating process. Choi reportedly accepted an advance payment from an unnamed game developer who then complained when the rating process did not progress quickly enough.

Police say that, in order to generate an excuse for the rating delay, Choi purchased a hacking program and launched attacks on the game rating board:

[Choi] made postings on Internet bulletins... saying “MP3 files can be downloaded for free” with a link to a separate Web site. If people clicked on the site, they were directed to a pornographic video. While watching the video, the hacking program Choi had bought from China infected the watchers’ computers with a virus. These so-called zombies computers were then used for a distributed denial-of-service attack...

Choi managed to freeze the Game Rating Board 10 times between March 4 and 22, mobilizing some 7,400 hijacked computers...

The flight sim community suffered a terrible blow recently as malicious hackers essentially destroyed a longtime website which catered to aircraft game devotees.

The BBC reports that Avsim, launched in 1996, was devastated when hackers trashed both of its servers. Founder Tom Allensworth said in a statement:

The method of the hack makes recovery difficult, if not impossible. AVSIM is totally offline at this time and we expect to be so for some time to come. We are not able to predict when we will be back online, if we can come back at all.

Derek Davis, editor of PC Pilot magazine, told the BBC:

It looks like 13 years of hard work on Tom's part could have been wiped out. Avsim is an important site, because it services the whole community as a source of community developed terrains, skins, and mods - its contribution has been immeasurable....

Via: Ars Technica