10 ms·

EA hacked and source code stolen

55 points by hwpky 5y ago

FranchuFranchu 5y ago
Hmm, I wonder if this will help the modding community
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- grawprog 5y ago
  >The attackers claimed to have downloaded source code...for the proprietary Frostbite game engine used as the base for many other high-profile games. Possibly...or it'll be used to make bots and hacks and such.
ThePowerOfDirge 5y ago
Time to ban cryptocurrencies so this never happens again!
- agilob 5y ago
  Let's ban the internet
  - ThePowerOfDirge 5y ago
    Now we're talking.
agilob 5y ago
> 'No risk to players' > "We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen," an EA spokesperson said in a statement. Valve hasn't fixed TF2 since source leaked over a year ago, game is still unplayable on most servers due to bots
- pityJuke 5y ago
  What are you on about? The TF2 Source leak has not revealed any new vulnerabilities, and is not the cause of the bot infestation. Valve's inability to maintain a game, sure, but it isn't related.
  - agilob 5y ago
    I thought it was related, the bots appeared ~3 months after the leak. I'm sure src leak contributed to it.
    - therein 5y ago
      Yeah it reveals the structs and general logic to talk to the server and allows shimmed clients to be written for it.
marcodiego 5y ago
Stolen... for a meaning where stolen doesn't actually mean stolen, right?
- cjohansson 5y ago
  Copied should be a better term I think
- theandrewbailey 5y ago
  They're probably using the music and film industry definition of stolen (meaning downloaded).
- mooman219 5y ago
  I agree. I think "illegally cloned" would be a more accurate headline while still having as much clickbait as the author intended.
- GuB-42 5y ago
  The source code is a trade secret, and it is not secret anymore, that's what has been stolen. If take the Coca-Cola recipe from whatever safe it is stored in, I don't think anyone will have a problem saying that I stole the recipe, even if Coca-Cola still knows how to make it.
A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago
Eh. I have reluctantly accepted Steam as my game store / thinly hidden mandated DRM. I am unwilling to accept Origin on top of it so I guess I am mildly safe in this case. All my usual musings aside including distate for all things EA, I would absolutely want to see mass effect code.
- silvaring 5y ago
  Do you think this hack will mean that EA bring their games into the Gamepass PC Xbox app sooner rather than later?
- baud147258 5y ago
  I was about to say that you can get recent EA games on Steam, but then I checked and realized they require Origin on top of Steam, which is BS (even if it kinda makes sense).
jbverschoor 5y ago
Injected properly, they could've used all those GPUs for mining
w4rh4wk5 5y ago
> But it is unlikely that any mainstream competitor to EA would ever use such stolen data. I appreciate them acknowledging this fact. It bothers me how many people think that leaking the source code of a game engine is an actual problem for the company. Just because the code is available doesn't give you a license to use it. And the ones that don't care about having a license would not have used / payed for it in the first place. Regarding knowhow behind modern engines, Unreal and CRYENGINE's source code is available on GitHub. Engineers often publish research papers about their methods and reverse engineering isn't as infeasible as one might think initially. Also, speaking about Frostbite and what we've read about in the past (see Anthem), I highly doubt a developer can be productive using it while lacking official support.
- m-p-3 5y ago
  Yeah, I think the only ones that will actually make use of that are cheat developers and maybe game modders to obtain a deeper insight in the game.
- ksec 5y ago
  After watching Battlefield 2042 trailer I am interested whether they have a new version of Frostbite.
  - alkonaut 5y ago
    In earlier releases they bumped the version of frostbite to “frostbite 2” etc, but now I don’t see these big announcements so maybe it’s more a slow evolution now and not huge releases? There are certainly new engine features vs previous releases, but I haven’t seen if they call it a new “version”.
    - baud147258 5y ago
      since EA doesn't seem to be in the business of selling their engine to other companies, they don't really need to make big announcements with dazzling preview videos
database_lost 5y ago
> "Source code is a version of computer software which is usually much easier to read and understand than the end version in a finished product, and could be used to reverse engineer parts of the product." This excerpt is another example of why we need better computer literacy, starting with journalists.
- rwmj 5y ago
  Why? It seems a fair description of source code for readers who would not be familiar with the term. (You could argue that many more people should be software literate given that software is taking over the world, but that's a different argument.)
- homarp 5y ago
  if you know assembler, everything is source code... so the definition makes some sense. Access to source code makes RE easier but you can do without ( e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26130320 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26130320 )
- bshimmin 5y ago
  It's a poor definition by itself (though it's hard to explain "source code" succinctly without also getting into terms like "compiling", all of which means very little to someone not familiar with software development - I think a significant number of lay people honestly believe we just enter zeroes and ones all day!), but the bit about reverse engineering makes more sense in the context of the very next paragraph: > "For example, the Frostbite engine, which hackers claim to have the source code for, is a powerful game creation tool used in dozens of games, from FIFA to the Battlefield series and several recent Star Wars games from EA."
  - hutzlibu 5y ago
    "though it's hard to explain "source code" succinctly without also getting into terms like "compiling"" I use the term "blueprint" as in the plans of a architect for a house. While the running software, is the finished, build house.
whereistimbo 5y ago
Should I shed tears for them for getting hacked, or laugh to them because they are not taking security seriously?
swarnie_ 5y ago
And nothing of value was lost. Seriously who is still lining up to buy these lootbox infested gambling simulators in 2021?

55 points by hwpky 5y ago

FranchuFranchu 5y ago

Hmm, I wonder if this will help the modding community

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
grawprog 5y ago
>The attackers claimed to have downloaded source code...for the proprietary Frostbite game engine used as the base for many other high-profile games. Possibly...or it'll be used to make bots and hacks and such.

ThePowerOfDirge 5y ago

Time to ban cryptocurrencies so this never happens again!

agilob 5y ago
Let's ban the internet
- ThePowerOfDirge 5y ago
  Now we're talking.

agilob 5y ago

> 'No risk to players' > "We are investigating a recent incident of intrusion into our network where a limited amount of game source code and related tools were stolen," an EA spokesperson said in a statement. Valve hasn't fixed TF2 since source leaked over a year ago, game is still unplayable on most servers due to bots

pityJuke 5y ago
What are you on about? The TF2 Source leak has not revealed any new vulnerabilities, and is not the cause of the bot infestation. Valve's inability to maintain a game, sure, but it isn't related.
- agilob 5y ago
  I thought it was related, the bots appeared ~3 months after the leak. I'm sure src leak contributed to it.
  - therein 5y ago
    Yeah it reveals the structs and general logic to talk to the server and allows shimmed clients to be written for it.

marcodiego 5y ago

Stolen... for a meaning where stolen doesn't actually mean stolen, right?

cjohansson 5y ago
Copied should be a better term I think
theandrewbailey 5y ago
They're probably using the music and film industry definition of stolen (meaning downloaded).
mooman219 5y ago
I agree. I think "illegally cloned" would be a more accurate headline while still having as much clickbait as the author intended.
GuB-42 5y ago
The source code is a trade secret, and it is not secret anymore, that's what has been stolen. If take the Coca-Cola recipe from whatever safe it is stored in, I don't think anyone will have a problem saying that I stole the recipe, even if Coca-Cola still knows how to make it.

A4ET8a8uTh0 5y ago

Eh. I have reluctantly accepted Steam as my game store / thinly hidden mandated DRM. I am unwilling to accept Origin on top of it so I guess I am mildly safe in this case. All my usual musings aside including distate for all things EA, I would absolutely want to see mass effect code.

silvaring 5y ago
Do you think this hack will mean that EA bring their games into the Gamepass PC Xbox app sooner rather than later?
baud147258 5y ago
I was about to say that you can get recent EA games on Steam, but then I checked and realized they require Origin on top of Steam, which is BS (even if it kinda makes sense).

jbverschoor 5y ago

Injected properly, they could've used all those GPUs for mining

w4rh4wk5 5y ago

> But it is unlikely that any mainstream competitor to EA would ever use such stolen data. I appreciate them acknowledging this fact. It bothers me how many people think that leaking the source code of a game engine is an actual problem for the company. Just because the code is available doesn't give you a license to use it. And the ones that don't care about having a license would not have used / payed for it in the first place. Regarding knowhow behind modern engines, Unreal and CRYENGINE's source code is available on GitHub. Engineers often publish research papers about their methods and reverse engineering isn't as infeasible as one might think initially. Also, speaking about Frostbite and what we've read about in the past (see Anthem), I highly doubt a developer can be productive using it while lacking official support.

m-p-3 5y ago
Yeah, I think the only ones that will actually make use of that are cheat developers and maybe game modders to obtain a deeper insight in the game.
ksec 5y ago
After watching Battlefield 2042 trailer I am interested whether they have a new version of Frostbite.
- alkonaut 5y ago
  In earlier releases they bumped the version of frostbite to “frostbite 2” etc, but now I don’t see these big announcements so maybe it’s more a slow evolution now and not huge releases? There are certainly new engine features vs previous releases, but I haven’t seen if they call it a new “version”.
  - baud147258 5y ago
    since EA doesn't seem to be in the business of selling their engine to other companies, they don't really need to make big announcements with dazzling preview videos

database_lost 5y ago

> "Source code is a version of computer software which is usually much easier to read and understand than the end version in a finished product, and could be used to reverse engineer parts of the product." This excerpt is another example of why we need better computer literacy, starting with journalists.

rwmj 5y ago
Why? It seems a fair description of source code for readers who would not be familiar with the term. (You could argue that many more people should be software literate given that software is taking over the world, but that's a different argument.)
homarp 5y ago
if you know assembler, everything is source code... so the definition makes some sense. Access to source code makes RE easier but you can do without ( e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26130320 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26130320 )
bshimmin 5y ago
It's a poor definition by itself (though it's hard to explain "source code" succinctly without also getting into terms like "compiling", all of which means very little to someone not familiar with software development - I think a significant number of lay people honestly believe we just enter zeroes and ones all day!), but the bit about reverse engineering makes more sense in the context of the very next paragraph: > "For example, the Frostbite engine, which hackers claim to have the source code for, is a powerful game creation tool used in dozens of games, from FIFA to the Battlefield series and several recent Star Wars games from EA."
- hutzlibu 5y ago
  "though it's hard to explain "source code" succinctly without also getting into terms like "compiling"" I use the term "blueprint" as in the plans of a architect for a house. While the running software, is the finished, build house.

whereistimbo 5y ago

Should I shed tears for them for getting hacked, or laugh to them because they are not taking security seriously?

swarnie_ 5y ago

And nothing of value was lost. Seriously who is still lining up to buy these lootbox infested gambling simulators in 2021?