While I am not a lawyer, I would believe that it would be as Cryptic is a business, and the purpose of a DDoS is to block services from being usable via flooding the target. Essentially the perp was disrupting a busness and prevented said business from functioning and making money.
So... shot version... we could be looking at maybe Criminal Mischief at least if Cryptic wants to press charges.
hacking is a federal crime. depending on the extent it could be a misdemeanor or felony. Any damage to the value of a computer/property over $500 is a felony.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,564Community Moderator
Interesting... and considering he had been at it all day... I wouldn't call it a misdemeanor.
I was just able to get back in. It seems the (insert appropriate adjective) individual responsible for sophmoric shenanigans against Cryptic, has stayed his tantrum--for now. Hopefully, Cryptic and their ever eager legal team, take that...individual to court (or at least tan his hide in the modern version of a woodshed!)
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,564Community Moderator
I am familiar with networks, programming, and some legal matters. First, the IP address that keeps getting reposted over and over is ( 208.95.185.222) Cryptic Studios. I seriously doubt the individual is dumb enough to post anything that will give you his name and address. Twitter will have an IP but that IP could trace back to a wifi station, coffee shop, Mc Donalds, or even a library. At best guess you would have his home city.
As for Cryptic's/PWE options, I am unaware of their business model. After the attacks are ended, they can pay lawyers to acquire Twitters records at large cost. This price can vary greatly on several factors;
How long the attorneys want to work hourly and get paid.
How long Twitter's attorneys block their attorneys and want to get paid hourly doing that.
How much Twitter is willing to settle on the price for a list that might contain his actual ISP address.
Here is the kicker... Now you start back at step 1 with his ISP.
If you find him can you sue him and get your money back? Heck no.
The servers where I worked got TRIBBLE years ago, Dow Chemical is a major chemical manufacturer. There was no effort made by the company to launch an investigation to find the hacker(s). There was a formal report made to the feds and as far as I know, no one was every investigated or even asked questions. This is a game company with the HQ based in China. Unless they send the Tongs after this guy he won't be touched.
This attack came because some TRIBBLE at "Never Enter" got the bright idea to mess with the player's fun. Another TRIBBLE got irate and started a denial of service attack. This TRIBBLE is going to bed without playing his Star Trek because of the first two schmucks.
End of story.
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rattler2Member, Star Trek Online ModeratorPosts: 58,564Community Moderator
The working theory over in the Neverwinter forums is retaliation for Cryptic countering an economy exploit being spammed by bots for that games equivelent of Dilithium. While the perp has not said anything about it, the DDoS was clearly on purpose based on his Snively Whiplash taunting. He even specifically said that he didn't want to be confused for Lizard Squad. This was for bragging rights at least, and as he disrupted not just his target game, but two others, I would say its a good bet they will want to do something about it.
Twitter will have an IP but that IP could trace back to a wifi station, coffee shop, Mc Donalds, or even a library. At best guess you would have his home city.
Not if he's smart. And no, renting a botnet to carry out a DDoS does not make him smart. At best he's a script kiddie, which means he presses "run" for scripts other people, much smarter than he, wrote.
And even if Cryptic were to pursue this Twit, his "admission" on Twitter doesn't really prove a thing. I could make a Twitter account and claim I did it, for example.
I am familiar with networks, programming, and some legal matters. First, the IP address that keeps getting reposted over and over is ( 208.95.185.222) Cryptic Studios. I seriously doubt the individual is dumb enough to post anything that will give you his name and address. Twitter will have an IP but that IP could trace back to a wifi station, coffee shop, Mc Donalds, or even a library. At best guess you would have his home city.
As for Cryptic's/PWE options, I am unaware of their business model. After the attacks are ended, they can pay lawyers to acquire Twitters records at large cost. This price can vary greatly on several factors;
How long the attorneys want to work hourly and get paid.
How long Twitter's attorneys block their attorneys and want to get paid hourly doing that.
How much Twitter is willing to settle on the price for a list that might contain his actual ISP address.
Here is the kicker... Now you start back at step 1 with his ISP.
If you find him can you sue him and get your money back? Heck no.
The servers where I worked got TRIBBLE years ago, Dow Chemical is a major chemical manufacturer. There was no effort made by the company to launch an investigation to find the hacker(s). There was a formal report made to the feds and as far as I know, no one was every investigated or even asked questions. This is a game company with the HQ based in China. Unless they send the Tongs after this guy he won't be touched.
This attack came because some TRIBBLE at "Never Enter" got the bright idea to mess with the player's fun. Another TRIBBLE got irate and started a denial of service attack. This TRIBBLE is going to bed without playing his Star Trek because of the first two schmucks.
End of story.
Not true.
Aside from paying their own attorneys, there is no cost/fee for getting twitter's records. Cryptic would contact law enforcement to report being the victim of a crime. At that time law enforcement can obtain a search warrant against twitter demanding the release of all info pertaining to the account in question. Twitter has to comply.
If Twitter's records allow them to track the culprit, they can then apply for a search warrant on his computer.
After obtaining all records, they will decide whether or not to pursue charges. The first thought may be not to, but I am unsure about that. It would depend on what they find. Maybe they discover other things. One does not randomly decide to attack a server, make a twitter account to announce intentions, and give play by play of your actions.
Yes, Cryptic could also pursue a civil lawsuit, but that would probably not be worth it.
It's time that these ddos were treated as terrorist attacks. I'd be nice if the NSA got involved instead of spying on folks not breaking the law they used thier tech to track these hackers down.
It's time that these ddos were treated as terrorist attacks. I'd be nice if the NSA got involved instead of spying on folks not breaking the law they used thier tech to track these hackers down.
Terrorist attacks? NSA?
I think this is more than a minor overreaction.
I'm not buying the script kiddie pretense for one second. STO has been plagued for a year with lag, lag, lag, and more lag. I don't know what hour on Sunday morning the lag turned into galactic stupidity, but I dealt with 'server not responding' for a solid eight hours before someone at Cryptic concocted the 'we're being attacked' make-believe fantasy. If it were a DDOS attack, just how hungover was the staff that it took more than eight hours for them to respond?
Every week it is some new lame excuse. What will it be next week? Poltergeists?
I'm not buying the script kiddie pretense for one second. STO has been plagued for a year with lag, lag, lag, and more lag. I don't know what hour on Sunday morning the lag turned into galactic stupidity, but I dealt with 'server not responding' for a solid eight hours before someone at Cryptic concocted the 'we're being attacked' make-believe fantasy. If it were a DDOS attack, just how hungover was the staff that it took more than eight hours for them to respond?
Every week it is some new lame excuse. What will it be next week? Poltergeists?
1. This was bragged about on Twitter for hours.
2. Cryptic was pretty swift on it.
3. It wasn't just one single attack, it was multiple attacks.
4. What lag would you be talking about, cause I don't get none. No UI lag and certainly no rubber-banding. So how about you cut them some slack for a change!
"You don't want to patrol!? You don't want to escort!? You don't want to defend the Federation's Starbases!? Then why are you flying my Starships!? If you were a Klingon you'd be killed on the spot, but lucky for you.....you WERE in Starfleet. Let's see how New Zealand Penal Colony suits you." Adm A. Necheyev.
The working theory over in the Neverwinter forums is retaliation for Cryptic countering an economy exploit being spammed by bots for that games equivelent of Dilithium.
I have never installed nor played Neverwinter, but I am HIGHLY sceptical at the claim that 'mass botting' has been going on. In my view, from reading the threads and the numbers of players chatting saying that they used this method of framing - Cryptic miscalculated the 'Dilithium/Astral Diamond' rewards from NW equivalent of doffing, and players cottoned on and made use of it on a large scale.
I would be very surprised if the claims of botting were true - and not just an excuse to hide the fact they miscalculated rewards and now need to correct.
2 years ago I stopped playing this game because of the same issues. I come back 2 years later hopping that it was solved and still we have the same lag, rubber banding, disconnections (12 times in 1 hour game), wow this is amazingly wrong.
Seek and ye shall find. Ask and ye shall receive. Rabboni
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety" (Benjamin Franklin).
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy
Let's speculate about things we don't know because we're mad at someone ruining our fun, but we want to pretend like "we're in the know" anyway.
Lets keep thinking we own the place Starfleet Dental... you don't, Cryptic studios does.
Keep on trolling.
Who said anything about owning the pace, Tamujj, my man? I'm saying: it's pointless to sit here and speculate over attacker's thought processes, motives, shoe size, age, physical build, favorite team. What exactly does this get us?
Comments
hacking is a federal crime. depending on the extent it could be a misdemeanor or felony. Any damage to the value of a computer/property over $500 is a felony.
Go get 'em guys!
As for Cryptic's/PWE options, I am unaware of their business model. After the attacks are ended, they can pay lawyers to acquire Twitters records at large cost. This price can vary greatly on several factors;
The servers where I worked got TRIBBLE years ago, Dow Chemical is a major chemical manufacturer. There was no effort made by the company to launch an investigation to find the hacker(s). There was a formal report made to the feds and as far as I know, no one was every investigated or even asked questions. This is a game company with the HQ based in China. Unless they send the Tongs after this guy he won't be touched.
This attack came because some TRIBBLE at "Never Enter" got the bright idea to mess with the player's fun. Another TRIBBLE got irate and started a denial of service attack. This TRIBBLE is going to bed without playing his Star Trek because of the first two schmucks.
End of story.
Commanding Officer USS Frontenac
Commanding Officer Enterprise NX-01
And even if Cryptic were to pursue this Twit, his "admission" on Twitter doesn't really prove a thing. I could make a Twitter account and claim I did it, for example.
Pretty much.
Not true.
Aside from paying their own attorneys, there is no cost/fee for getting twitter's records. Cryptic would contact law enforcement to report being the victim of a crime. At that time law enforcement can obtain a search warrant against twitter demanding the release of all info pertaining to the account in question. Twitter has to comply.
If Twitter's records allow them to track the culprit, they can then apply for a search warrant on his computer.
After obtaining all records, they will decide whether or not to pursue charges. The first thought may be not to, but I am unsure about that. It would depend on what they find. Maybe they discover other things. One does not randomly decide to attack a server, make a twitter account to announce intentions, and give play by play of your actions.
Yes, Cryptic could also pursue a civil lawsuit, but that would probably not be worth it.
Terrorist attacks? NSA?
I think this is more than a minor overreaction.
Every week it is some new lame excuse. What will it be next week? Poltergeists?
1. This was bragged about on Twitter for hours.
2. Cryptic was pretty swift on it.
3. It wasn't just one single attack, it was multiple attacks.
4. What lag would you be talking about, cause I don't get none. No UI lag and certainly no rubber-banding. So how about you cut them some slack for a change!
Indeed, I can't even stay logged in for 5 minutes.
I would be very surprised if the claims of botting were true - and not just an excuse to hide the fact they miscalculated rewards and now need to correct.
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy
Lets keep thinking we own the place Starfleet Dental... you don't, Cryptic studios does.
Keep on trolling.
I agree on this...
This sounds like it might be a routing problem. I've been on all morning and haven't had so much as a blip of lag.
Most unexpectedly, this turned into a flame-fest! Closed it goes!. /sigh What flamefestery is this? pwlaughingtrendy