E
ephemeral
Guest
I am curious...is the current response to the exploit which occurred today the standard procedure for dealing with such attacks, is EA-Land in serious jeopardy?
First, the introduction of a large amount of cash into the game was supposed to have triggered an automatic (and presumably, immediate) shutdown of EA-Land. It didn't happen--which is okay, there are some bugs that might need to be worked out.
If the response however, is to manually try to sanitize EA-Land every time this happens (by remediation of objects, moneys, etc.)...we're going to be spending an awful lot of time offline--not to mention the manpower needs that EA will have just to check logs and clean up the db).
Certainly too, the hackers will learn that large infusions of money will trigger a response and simply change their MO to introducing smaller amounts--less detectable amounts.
I don't know how many people are out there with the skills and knowledge to accomplish the programming feats necessary to create "artificial" EA wealth--but I suspect that there's quite a few. This is certainly not going to be the last attempt to mess with the EA-Land economy, anyone can figure that out--but are we going to be spending days offline every time some clown decides there's an easier way to make Simoleans than working in the city or at money houses?
I realize that discussion of the methods of the exploiters is not permitted, however, I'm wondering if some kind of explanation of what occurred is possible--so that we may be informed players? We don't need detail, just what to look for. I'd like to know how these guys were spotted to begin with, what did they do that was suspicious--so that we all may be quicker to report hinky behavior.
(edited for grammar and syntax)
First, the introduction of a large amount of cash into the game was supposed to have triggered an automatic (and presumably, immediate) shutdown of EA-Land. It didn't happen--which is okay, there are some bugs that might need to be worked out.
If the response however, is to manually try to sanitize EA-Land every time this happens (by remediation of objects, moneys, etc.)...we're going to be spending an awful lot of time offline--not to mention the manpower needs that EA will have just to check logs and clean up the db).
Certainly too, the hackers will learn that large infusions of money will trigger a response and simply change their MO to introducing smaller amounts--less detectable amounts.
I don't know how many people are out there with the skills and knowledge to accomplish the programming feats necessary to create "artificial" EA wealth--but I suspect that there's quite a few. This is certainly not going to be the last attempt to mess with the EA-Land economy, anyone can figure that out--but are we going to be spending days offline every time some clown decides there's an easier way to make Simoleans than working in the city or at money houses?
I realize that discussion of the methods of the exploiters is not permitted, however, I'm wondering if some kind of explanation of what occurred is possible--so that we may be informed players? We don't need detail, just what to look for. I'd like to know how these guys were spotted to begin with, what did they do that was suspicious--so that we all may be quicker to report hinky behavior.
(edited for grammar and syntax)
