[转载]Chinese hackers accused of mass theft relating to online game Lineage in
信息来源：SecurityNewsPortal.comShanghai. February 20. INTERFAX-CHINA - Chinese hackers were accused of being involve in the recent mass theft of private information from tens of thousands of people linked to the popular online game "Lineage" in South Korea. The game is operated by NCSoft. The accusation is from GEOT, a network security company in South Korea.
During the period from May 2005 to February 2006, South Korea reported about 4,000 online game theft cases, in which South Korean online gamers were hacked via hacking programs known as malware and lost their online game accounts, passwords, as well as virtual items, according to GEOT.
The hacking programs are capable of stealing personal information, and was found to be embedded into certain websites, and would secretly infect the computers of internet users when they visited these websites. The malware allows hackers to find the login name and password of online games and sends them back automatically via email to Chinese websites. GEOT said that most of these programs were developed by Chinese hackers with the aim of stealing virtual items used in online games from South Korean players.
Besides directly stealing players' game accounts, the hackers are pilfering virtual items, which have a real-world value, especially hard to find items. Chinese virtual item suppliers and online game service companies are trading in the stolen virtual items directly obtained from hacking South Korean players, it is alleged. Increasing numbers of South Korean online game players have suffered from such theft. But the Korean company said that there currently does not exist any efficient way to curb the situation.
"Hacking for virtual items used in online games is quite popular in China as China does not have explicit laws and regulations to protect online virtual assets," Mao Jieming, an official with private equity firm Richen, told Interfax. Richen has invested in V516.com, a major online gaming trading platform in China. The virtual items they get from foreign game servers can only be sold to gamers playing there.
"A large number of what are termed 'Chinese online game substitute playing companies' usually employ a lot of professional gamers to play for virtual items on foreign game servers, but it is more efficient and profitable for them to get these virtual items through hacking." The activity of "substitute online game playing" is referred to as farming. In -game players who only seek to collect virtual items to sell are known as 'farmers' in gaming parlance. Virtual items are sold via auction sites such as eBay or via specialized game item trading sites. A virtual item can enhance game play or offer other benefits for gamers, such as saving many hours of game play that it can take to generate an item. This is a well-recorded activity not only in popular Asian games such as Linage, it is also prevalent in games such as World of Warcraft.
Mao told Interfax that most foreign game companies should limit farming and the trade of virtual items, as both of these activities boost the spread of virus and hacking programs, which destroys the image of their games, and also affects their sales of pre-paid cards.
Some Chinese farming firms and virtual item suppliers have been caught collecting identification numbers and information of South Korean players, which could be used to login into online games on network servers in South Korea.
According to the Korean Information Security Agency (KISA), the Ministry of Information and Communications will launch an anti-identification theft campaign by reviewing subscription policies of 100,000 local websites to check whether they inadvertently leaked resident registration numbers and other personal information.
In addition, the ministry is considering banning Internet sites from using resident numbers for confirming the identification of new subscribers. 这条新闻 大家一看见题目 就心知肚明
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