[MUD-Dev] DGN/TECH: exploiting/hacking in MMOGs - sources of info?

[John MacQueen]

elina.m.koivisto at nokia.com wrote:

> I'm doing research on exploits & hacking in MMOGs. I wonder if
> someone over here would know good sources of information (other
> than MUD-DEV archives :) for this? I'm mainly looking at technical
> issues: what kinds of exploits/hacks are common, why and how those
> are possible. I tried to search for articles and literature, but
> with very little luck - would be nice to know if there is already
> some research done on this

A lot of developers do not like to talk about such things publicly
for fear of spreading more information about to people who would use
such information.

That said in my experience the main "hacks" I've seen in the last
couple of years have been... "speed hacks" where the operating
system is tampered with making client side timing and clock signals
inaccurate.

The standard memory hack where the culprit scans the game loaded
into memory for any variables/data he can alter in memory on the fly
as the client is running.

Hacking of directx/opengl libraries to manipulate how the game
displays objects or other visible changes to gain some advantage.

Lastly the creation of "packet replacement proxies" which filter the
data stream looking for specific data within packets, and replacing
that data with the hackers data before sending that data packet onto
the game's server.

That's the most prevalent in non game specific hacking methods I
have seen and doesn't take a large degree of skill to accomplish on
some games and there are many tools available for download to make
these easier to attempt.

Your not likely to hear a lot about how those work on a specific
game, or how any specific game attempts do deal with those issues,
as doing so would in and of itself threaten any developers game who
gave such information. Obscurity is no security, but with a game
client in a hackers hands, it can help reduce resources required to
combat them by simply slowing down their progress.

As for exploits, that just people looking for mistakes in the games
code, timing issues, logic issues etc. that a programmer may have
overlooked. They are completely game specific.

John MacQueen
COO, Playnet Inc.
817-358-7580 ext 113
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