Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: Open Letter to Bungie/Gearbox - My Clan Halo PC Servers Under Attack
  • Subject: Open Letter to Bungie/Gearbox - My Clan Halo PC Servers Under Attack
Subject: Open Letter to Bungie/Gearbox - My Clan Halo PC Servers Under Attack
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Good morning,

My name is Jeremy, aka }GHS{Chewie. I am an avid PC gamer and a regular MS/Bungie/Gearbox product consumer. I am also an Admin for a number of large Halo PC gaming clans, primarily among a strong community of Christian gamers within the United States, Canada, and Europe. I also run a large umbrella organization for a multitude of Christian-based gaming clans. For my part, I've been part of a Christian gaming clan for the last two years, most of that time with the tags }GHS{.

Having said all of that, I merely am attempting to point out the fact that I am not some ten year old newbie and I do have some grasp of the things which I am about to speak about. You can rest assured that the plea for help therein contained is genuine and, we feel, needs to be dignified with some kind of response from the good folks at Bungie and Gearbox. So far the best service we have gotten has been from “offshore” support staff that obviously has little to no experience with the products they are attempting to support, let alone any vested interest in them. For what it is worth, I have also actively been game/usability testing Microsoft products at the Redmond, WA campus for at least the past ten years. I know what it means to be vested and you can rest assured I want to your products succeed as much as we want our clan to be free of the terrible headaches we have been having to deal with. But I digress.

Over the past several weeks our servers have been hacked by someone using a program called "Rcon Stealer". It was supposedly made by someone who is close to or knows a person who goes by the name "Pepsi" or some version of that name. They have hacked our servers run on gameservers.net and our Teamspeak server. They have been able to kick, ban, and return at will. They have also been able to ban us from our TS server and kick and ban at will there also. The program is supposedly created using C++, but we can’t be completely sure of that and frankly it doesn’t really matter.

We have been able to get screenshots of incidences and possible IP addresses. We need some type of defense or fix for this program. We are not the first that this has happened to and looks like it is starting to spread to several of our brother/sister clans. You will be hearing from several of my clan-mates with the screenshots I mentioned. Also, they have been able to upload modified “modded” maps and randomly alter our map cycle. As of now we have changed all passwords pertaining to our servers, FTP, TS, etc. We will continue to do this but we ask that you expeditiously look into this and make some kind of an attempt to assist us in our endeavor to continue in our enjoyment of your products. On behalf of and as a leading figure within the Christian Halo PC gaming community, my associates and I look forward to your reply.

Respectfully submitted,

-Jeremy, aka }GHS{Chewie

Clan Admin and Council Member at }GHS{ and }CoG{ Halo PC Clans
Founder and Webmaster for TeamCGA.org, homepage of The Christian Gaming Alliance

P.S. It might be worth mentioning that I am also a Microsoft shareholder. My decision to remain as such will have a lot to do with the outcome of this issue. Thanks again.

  • 01.01.2007 9:01 AM PDT

I'll be on my own side.

I'm not sure what anyone here would be able to do to help you. Maybe you'd have more luck asking a Gearbox employee on their forums? They're the developers of the PC port, so I'm sure they'd be able to offer much more assistance.

Or at the very least, PM Achronos. I'm not sure what he would be able to do though.

If you do PM him, I'd recommend cutting down the length of your post.

They moved it because it doesn't belong in the Septagon. That's a community forum, not a technical support forum. It's Halo PC related, so it belongs here. It will get deleted/moved on any other forum.

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 9:11 AM PDT
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So my apologies for the multiple copies of this thread but apparently a B.net moderator saw fit to move my attempt to post the same letter in the Septagon, back to here.

Thanks unnamed moderator.... :(

Maybe you can at least place a hyperlink back in the other directory or respond here telling me whether or not you are going to delete or move any future attempts on my part to place this letter or links to it in other sections of this website?

So for the sake of everyone, please do not respond in this topic. It's probably just going to end up getting deleted.

Respectfully,

-Chewie

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 9:12 AM PDT
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Damn...I'm sorry to here that GHS Chewie...nothing's worse than getting kicked/banned from your own paid server for no apparent reason...by an unwanted intruder. I wish you and all of us the best of luck as we try to foil these thieves, and stop the spread of Rcon Stealer, and prevent it for usage ever again.

If all else fails, we might have to resort having to play non-dedi's...so the fate of many servers lays on all our hands.

[Edited on 1/1/2007]

  • 01.01.2007 9:20 AM PDT

Zerogreenchief is eh pretty cool guy, eh trolls people and doesn't afraid of anything.

sucks to be you.

  • 01.02.2007 12:26 PM PDT
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If this is true, Gearbox is under OBLIGATION to fix this. This is a massive security breach, and if it goes unfixed, is false advertising. The box says "Face the ultimate Halo challenge with all-new online multiplayer for up to 16!" You pretty much can't get that without a dedi; Not unless you're paying way more than you should be for internet.

This game needs to be fixed. If not, Microshaft and Gearbox should just release it for free. No use wasting money on a game that's falling apart because of lazy developers.

  • 01.02.2007 2:07 PM PDT
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Posted by: Oni Ryu
If this is true, Gearbox is under OBLIGATION to fix this. This is a massive security breach, and if it goes unfixed, is false advertising. The box says "Face the ultimate Halo challenge with all-new online multiplayer for up to 16!" You pretty much can't get that without a dedi; Not unless you're paying way more than you should be for internet.

This game needs to be fixed. If not, Microshaft and Gearbox should just release it for free. No use wasting money on a game that's falling apart because of lazy developers.


I understand your point, but releasing it for free will allow even MORE 7 year old noobs to crowd in, and HaloPC, instead of dying a quiet peaceful death (which I hope it doesn't, although I doubt it...), it will be eternally tortured by diaper wearing kids threatening to kill their opponent's mom if they even think they're using some kind of a hack. It's like in Pirates of the Caribbeans: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Norrington's associate: You know, we're going to end up firing on our own ship.
Commodore Norrington: I'd rather see the Interceptor down below the sea's depths rather than see it infested with pirates.

  • 01.02.2007 2:34 PM PDT
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I am a member of }CoG{, and I really hope this gets fixed, but calling Microsoft "Microshaft" is not the way to get it done.

  • 01.02.2007 3:14 PM PDT