14 year old from Tallaght in latest XBOX hack alert

jay-me

A DUBLIN schoolboy caused a worldwide alert when he attempted to hack into the Microsoft Xbox system, it has emerged.

The 14-year-old from Tallaght was responsible for millions of computer users being alerted after the popular online game Modern Warfare 2 was hacked.

Bosses feared sensitive that information about Microsoft's customers was in danger of being compromised.

General manager of Microsoft in Ireland Paul Rellis made the revelation during his keynote speech at Bank of Ireland Business Week.

Mr Rellis said Microsoft is working with the teenager to develop his talent and help him use his skills for legitimate purposes.

The alert was exposed in the wake of an attack on Sony's online PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment in which the personal information of some 100million user accounts was stolen last month.

Fair play to the kid I hope the lucky intervention will be put to good use.

Kojak

Maybe the young lad could be used to hack into the IMF and change our loan amount from €85 billion to about €20.

I think we could afford that.

Console

Say what you want, but at 14 and able to do something like that?
He is smart. Sounds good to hear that Microsoft aint throwing the book at him.

Thor

Ha, Looks like we got are own Geohot in the works!!

lol

Duggy747

That article doesn't reveal a lot about what he actually did.

Still, at least they didn't bring him to court. People in his situation get to go on and have a very bright future.

strobe

Console wrote: »

Say what you want, but at 14 and able to do something like that?
He is smart. Sounds good to hear that Microsoft aint throwing the book at him.

But he got traced.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure doing whatever he did is really hard. I can turn my computer on and off and look at stuff online, that's the extent of my 'skills'. But if you are going to be a good haxor then isn't the main thing about not leaving a big slippy slime trail so that the people you are hacking don't know exactly who you are?

fnord In other entirely unrelated news, Microsoft are unhackable (btw remember how Sony got hacked to bits, seriously, keep remembering that) and they love kids from 'disadvantaged' areas and stuff. fnord

jay-me

Had a look for more info and found this:

He didn't phish, he had the say command that said to go to his site, it was sharks infection...

Then this: http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/topic/473568-mw2-shark-infection/

just put :

self setClientDvar( "ui_mapname", "mp_rust; bind button_back say <TEXT HERE>");

Console

strobe wrote: »

But he got traced.

Don't get me wrong I'm sure doing whatever he did is really hard. I can turn my computer on and off and look at stuff online, that's the extent of my 'skills'. But if you are going to be a good haxor then isn't the main thing about not leaving a big slippy slime trail so that the people you are hacking don't know exactly who you are?

True.
But hey, lets not take anything away from the kid at 14 like. Thats still impressive.

But I know what you mean. he got sloppy somehow it would appear. Its not the perfect crime if you get caught

TheUsual

When I was 14 I got my first ZX Spectrum just to play crappy games on.

Fair play to this kid, he will probably get a job working on security for Microsoft. Kind of scary though when you think of 14 year olds hacking.

Trevor451

I bet all he did was copy some hacked game saves on to his xbox hard drive :rolleyes:

jay-me

I question the validity of the claims in my last post. Are Microsoft actually stupid enough not to know the difference between some kid that changed some text in patch and a kid with genuine ability?

I sincerely doubt they are!

Console

Trevor451 wrote: »

I bet all he did was copy some hacked game saves on to his xbox hard drive :rolleyes:

I remember hearing that Modern Warfare 2's online game got hacked. That players could cheat (invincible etc) So since it was mentioned in the statement... Im thinking it might of been indeed him who started it.

Wasn't it a 14yr old who was the first to break the Dvd encryption? Met a really interesting lad a couple of months ago who was a professional hacker.. These guys get picked up by big companies very quickly.

jay-me

Deleted User wrote: »

Wasn't it a 14yr old who was the first to break the Dvd encryption? Met a really interesting lad a couple of months ago who was a professional hacker.. These guys get picked up by big companies very quickly.

He was 16 and with the help of two others. But still pretty epic all the same!

Kidchameleon

Why isn't he being charged? If they didn't need his skills they would be quick enough to throw the book at him.

Owen

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

gosuckonalemon

Dominos Pizzas...given knackers hackin capabilities..

MagicSean

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Why isn't he being charged? If they didn't need his skills they would be quick enough to throw the book at him.

Charged with what?

Kensington

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Why isn't he being charged? If they didn't need his skills they would be quick enough to throw the book at him.

Not sure myself. Underage maybe?
Most companies see crackers as nothing less than assholes, you no longer have the prospects of a cushy job in a security firm that you had a few years ago. Chances are if he was over 18 the book would be thrown at him and he wouldn't have a hope of getting a job in anything IT related, ever.

Irish Fire

I think it's the people in the company that should be sacked. It's their job to make sure this does not happen and it did so therefore they didn't do their job and should be sacked.....

Kensington

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

Charged with what?

Computer forgery (criminal) and breaking the terms of the Xbox and Xbox Live EULA and attempting to circumvent any security systems in place (civil).

It's not much different than attempting to pick a lock and you can get jail time for that.

Meesared

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

Lol no a person who writes code is called a coder

kiwi123

Fair play to him!

When I was 14 i'd say the only knowledge about technology I had was how to kick ass at snake on my phone.

It's obviously a talent and good to see that it's being anchored in a positive manner cos I'd say it could so easily go the other way.

MagicSean

Kensington wrote: »

Computer forgery (criminal) and breaking the terms of the Xbox and Xbox Live EULA and attempting to circumvent any security systems in place (civil).

It's not much different than attempting to pick a lock and you can get jail time for that.

Computer forgery? Never heard of that. What legislation is that under?

Micky Dolenz

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

Are you trying to make your job sound cool and hip?

PaintDoctor

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

JJJJNR

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

Is called a developer...

zero19

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

That's a bit racist

Ghandee

This story is absolutely mind boggling, and almost unbelievable!

For Christ sake, the lad is only fourteen, why wasn't he looking at porn on the net, like any normal fourteen year old, and secondly, as he's from Tallaght, how come he's not in the Square car park, smokin doobies, wearing adidas track suit, breaking into a car? :eek:

The fcukin world has become so goddam unpredictable it ain't even funny. Wha?

PaintDoctor

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6341HeJDgU

holystungun9

Meesared wrote: »

Lol no a person who writes code is called a coder

Wrong, a developer writes code, a coder takes codeine.

themadchef

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

Meesared wrote: »

Lol no a person who writes code is called a coder

JJJJNR wrote: »

Is called a developer...

Is geek not sexy enough for yee anymore? Rawrrrrr

Meesared

holystungun9 wrote: »

Wrong, a developer writes code, a coder takes codeine.

Not wrong both are correct although a developer means you dont primarily do it as a hobby

CrazyRabbit

Sounds like the lad is more of a script kiddie (someone who use scripts or programs developed by others to attack computer systems and networks).

Capt'n Midnight

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Hacker = Someone who writes normal every day program code.
Cracker = Someone who breaks systems/into systems.

Please stop calling crackers hackers.

Someone who writes normal every day program code. = someone with a 9 to 5 job

A hacker is someone who starts off with normal every day stuff and makes it do stuff beyond what it was is designed for or even do stuff it wasn't intended to do.


Oh and BTW most people who are called Crackers are only Script Kiddies "Cracker Nackers" if you like

TBH sounds more like microsoft spin than anything else, anyone else remember Mike Rowe ?

Naikon

Micky Dolenz wrote: »

Are you trying to make your job sound cool and hip?

There is a clear distinction. The media ****ed it up though. Anyway, how did this kid exploit "the sytem"? Are we talking a sophisticated buffer overflow/shellcode injection or did he just run a few script kiddie tools? No offence, but at 14 you won't know much about anything.

The most interesting hacks are source code bugs, not some 14 year old trying his luck. A DDos can be performed by simply hitting page reload over and over. Assuming the server does not throttle client connections. Cracks are only interesting to me if the exploit was clever.

STOP CALLING "SCRIPT KIDDIES" "HACKERS"! The latter requires actual skill.

Sofiztikated

Can you hear the nerds getting all antsy at the "wrong" terms being used?

The sound of glasses being furiously pushed up noses is deafening in here.

Softair

Sofiztikated wrote: »

Can you hear the nerds getting all antsy at the "wrong" terms being used?

The sound of glasses being furiously pushed up noses is deafening in here.

haha thank god someone finally noticed :P

flyswatter

JJJJNR wrote: »

Is called a developer...

Or more than likely programmer/software engineer.

partyatmygaff

Don't judge him based on his age. It neither takes age nor a degree in computer science to work out an exploit and use it.

It's not that surprising or unbelievable. I'm only seventeen and I managed to "crack" the shoddy security of a certain online data management system used by hundreds of schools around the UK and Ireland. What's even more worrying is that the company who made the software in question also create software solutions for transport systems, prisons, military, hospitals as well as schools around the UK and Ireland.

There are hundreds of very young people who are extremely talented with computers. I wouldn't be so quick to call him a "script kiddie" just yet.

Capt'n Midnight

flyswatter wrote: »

Or more than likely programmer/software engineer.

Microserf

Capt'n Midnight

Console wrote: »

Say what you want, but at 14 and able to do something like that?
He is smart. Sounds good to hear that Microsoft aint throwing the book at him.

He is 14 so there isn't a lot they can do under our legal system

unless they resort to extradinary rendition

squod

Elisabeth Fit Wolverine wrote: »

If this was america he would be locked up now.

If he was really from tallaght he'd have had two kids by now.

skyhighflyer

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Don't judge him based on his age. It neither takes age nor a degree in computer science to work out an exploit and use it.

It's not that surprising or unbelievable. I'm only seventeen and I managed to "crack" the shoddy security of a certain online data management system used by hundreds of schools around the UK and Ireland. What's even more worrying is that the company who made the software in question also create software solutions for transport systems, prisons, military, hospitals as well as schools around the UK and Ireland.

There are hundreds of very young people who are extremely talented with computers. I wouldn't be so quick to call him a "script kiddie" just yet.

I find it hard to believe someone intelligent enough to do that would then post about their criminal activity on an online forum. Unless of course you were invited to crack the system or were consulting, in which case you have my apologies.

Kadongy

This article was in the herald. Therefore it is probably nonsense.

Ross_Mahon

HACK THE PLANET!

Eric Cartman

a kid from tallaght breaking into something, nothing new here :pac:

but seriously - hes going to be microsofts bítch for the rest of his life, sad times to see somebody better didnt get him

partyatmygaff

skyhighflyer wrote: »

I find it hard to believe someone intelligent enough to do that would then post about their criminal activity on an online forum. Unless of course you were invited to crack the system or were consulting, in which case you have my apologies.

There was nothing criminal about it as my intentions were not criminal. The flaw was serious enough that I felt obliged to immediately tell the people responsible for the site.

NTMK

Kidchameleon wrote: »

Why isn't he being charged? If they didn't need his skills they would be quick enough to throw the book at him.

Easy!

Sony went after every hacker that opened up the ps3. bad idea made the company look like scum and attracted more and better hacker to attack sony which took down their online system for a month

Microsoft just ban people from using hacked consoles online (or try to) and don't bring legal proceedings against them

Also its not illegal to jailbreak phones or open a games console it voids your warranty the EULA is only for the firmware on the console

skyhighflyer

partyatmygaff wrote: »

There was nothing criminal about it as my intentions were not criminal. The flaw was serious enough that I felt obliged to immediately tell the people responsible for the site.

Fair play, didn't want to be insinuating anything just interested

Paparazzo

What's with all the "fair play to him"? Am I the only person who thinks he's a little bollocks, same as a scumbag that breaks into a shop? Must be getting old