Half-life 2 | Bizarre
VALVe, les rois de la médiocratie
Vendredi 3 octobre 2003 à 12h40 par Dr Loser
Comme vous le savez, Gabe ´stupid liar´ Newell a fait appel aux délateurs pour mettre la main sur le coupable qui a haxoré son Outlook Express. Non content de se couvrir de ridicule, il vient de lancer une chasse aux sorciéres qui commence à faire ses premières victimes ( un exemple dans les commentaires sur HL2.net).
Le code source qui traine sur le net est compacté dans un petit hl_src.rar de 30Mo qui, une fois décompacté, contient plus de 160Mo de code réparti sur 7670 fichiers. Certains pensent que le code contient les sources de l´IA, de l´éditeur, de l´encryptage des clefs, il y en a même qui prétendent avoir réussi à compiler et à jouer au jeu ( voir le screenshot ci-contre qui est très certainement un fake).
Mais ce n´est pas tout. Non content de se faire hacker leurs logiciels, les gars de VALVe se font rouler dans la farine pas du social engineering. Ci-dessous un mail dans lequel Chris Newcombe ( VALVe) explique comment un type a usurpé l´identité de Doug Lombardi afin de lui soutirer des informations sur un gros bug de Steam. On y apprend notamment qu´étant donné le manque de bande passante de Steam, VALVe compte mettre en place rapidement un système de download en peer-to-peer pour éviter la catastrophe lors de la sortie de Half-Life 2. Après s´être rendu compte de la supercherie, Chirs a supplié le " pirate" de ne pas publier l´information... ce sera finalement son propre mail qui arrivera sur le net, dieu sait comment.
VALVe utilise outlook express, ne semble pas connaitre l´existence des firewalls et se fait berner par le premier venu sur MSN Messenger. Comment voulez-vous que les joueurs aient confiance en Steam alors que les développeurs ne sont même pas capable de sécuriser leur réseau ? !
From: Chris Newcombe
Subject: Potential PR issue: I just got suckered by a social engineering a ttack
Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2003
Boy do I feel like an ass...
I hope I did the right thing damage-control wise ( I asked him politely not to publish/share any of this, and he agreed).
The Friends session below started 20 seconds after I approved ´lombardi@valvesoftware.com´ as a friend, so I assumed it was Doug. When you see the subject the irony will kill you ( or me, more likely).
Doug says:
hello mate
chris says:
Hi
Doug says:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10021 Any thoughts on that?
I can´t see to get a response from anyone at the moment
chris says:
That happened to gabe - someone created an account in his name when we reset the database. I had to reset the account password so Gabe could use it.
chris says:
We had planned ( and started work) on an email verification system but it was one of the features that Rick cut when Muru left.
chris says:
I certainly agree that the downside is horrendous -- most of the email addresses in our database are useless or obscene or both.
Doug says:
Do you know if this will be sorted in the future?
chris says:
We do plan to address this later, but I wouldn´t hold your breath. Right now the crippling problem is lack of bandwidth. I´ve been causing an ( unpopular) stir on that, saying that we should add peer-to-peer now not later ( as we had planned). Gabe seems to agree and wants to see an immediate plan to do that. It´s a huge amount of work and will occupy the team for a long time -- IMO we _really_ need it for HL-2 launch to succeed on Steam.
Doug says:
So is Steam one of the major reasons Half-Life 2 was delayed? Also will we be seeing peer-to-peer in the future?
Obviously I got totally suspicious right here. So I sent Doug an email with the exchange so far, asking to confirm if it was him. Then VPN and wemail died _right_ after I sent the email, so I couldn´t check for a response ( I just found I got an out-of-office auto-reply). So, unable to check email and fearing the worst...
chris says:
Did you get my email?
Doug says:
Nope
Doug says:
try again at munro@halflife2.net please?
[me: Aaaarrrrgghhhhh! Oh Nooooooooooooooooooooo!]
Doug says:
something meant to be coming through?
Doug says:
Come on Chris you can´t leave me like this 
chris says:
OK, so I realize that you are not actually Doug. Nice stunt
I´m asking you to _not_ share the comments which I made here in good faith ( believing that you were Doug). They are matters internal to Valve. I think you´ve proved your point very nicely, and I´d appreciate your help with this.
Doug says:
ah damn
Doug says:
all this juicy info and I can´t do anything with it ; (
chris says:
You´ve just succeeded in making an excellent point directly too a Steam developer -- I hope that would make you happy 
Doug says:
Sorry I thought you realised I was the thread starter and that Doug didn´t have an account here :[
chris says:
No, I´m simply not allowed to make public comments -- you´ll have to talk to the real Doug Lombardi for that. Obviously I´ll be sharing this with him -- please email him at... wel you know the address 
Doug says:
Heh so I´ll get a very harsh slap if I should publish on the web then?
chris says:
That would not be helpful -- please take it as read that you have made the point you intended to make. Please don´t publish anything from this exchange.
Doug says:
I had the perfect exclusive then 
Doug says:
Any chance you could speak to the real Doug or Gabe or someone and get them to send me some kind of info I can publish?
Doug says:
You sure I can´t publish this? 
chris says:
I´ll certainly ask them -- and they´ll see the full transcript of this exchange. Obviously I can´t promise anything, but you´ve certainly got my attention anyway. Can you tell me anything about yourself?
Doug says:
I´m an handome young... ok maybe I shouldn´t go into that
chris says:
>You sure I can´t publish this? Please don´t. I said things that I simply would not have said under any circumstances if I´d known you did not work at Valve.
Doug says:
I run halflife2.net, and try to keep up with the latest info 
chris says:
Well, you succeeded in giving me a near-death experience. I´ll send all this to Gabe and Doug and see what they say.
chris says:
Got to sign off now.
Doug says:
I´m very sorry for misleading you
chris says:
No problem ( cool stunt - first social engineering hack I´ve fallen for). Just please don´t publish or share any of this.
Doug says:
I wont although I will be bursting to over the coming months
chris says:
Thanks - much appreciated.
Doug says:
my email addy is munro@halflife2.net should Gabe want to send any legal threats etc
chris says:
He´s more likely to threaten me
You know how immenseley valuable the community is to Valve. BTW I just looked at your site; thanks for your support for HL-2 -- I don´t think you´ll be disappointed 
Doug says:
Just blame it all on me, it was afterall my fault
Source..... xxxxxx.com