Video Game Modding is Gateway to Criminal Hacking

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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Headline of the day that is likely to give you a chuckle, "How free hacking tools on the web could be leading kids into cybercrime." While I am far from being a "kid," I know that the last time that I did some game modding for fun, I very much wanted to go our right after that and head down to my local ATM and install a card skimmer...not.

Gaming websites could be spawning a new breed of cybercriminals, according to new research which claims that young people are being indoctrinated into hacking crimes via free and easily-accessible internet pages.[/QUOTE]

Websites and forums which provide cheat codes and modifications for video games are making it increasingly easy for young people to develop criminal skills and become involved in hacking chat rooms, a report by the U.K.'s National Crime Agency (NCA) has said.[/QUOTE]

Of course no statistics are given backing the actual statements up, and certainly none of the upsides are discussed about how games go a long ways to getting your kids into coding, which is certainly a skill that is getting a bit more valuable in today's workforce. I know that when my kids have wanted to mod PC games, I have encouraged them to do just that, and I know they have gained a better understanding of computing in general.
 
"Websites and forums which provide cheat codes"
- Expert Gamer
- Game Informer

hmm... used to be on print too :D
 
It could also be argued that the pursuit of cheat codes and game mods develops simple critical thinking and problem solving skills.

That article didn't even try to make any reasonable connections to what it is arguing for and just spouted a lot of hyperbole as mentioned above.

Why the media continues to vilify the gaming community is beyond me. You're probably more likely to find Trojan tools and DDoS tutorials on general computer forums than gaming ones. Unless they blanket Reddit and 4chan as gaming forums...
 
"shakes head and bangs it on the keyboard"

Articles like this that makes things harder for the infosec community.
 
So, they're saying that activities that lead to developing technical skills might correlate to people engaging in activities which require technical skills? Brilliant.

The number of practicing scientists who don't appear to know the difference between correlation and causation never ceases to astound me.
 
The number of practicing scientists who don't appear to know the difference between correlation and causation never ceases to astound me.

U.K's National Crime Agency =/= scientists. It's just another government funded agency looking to steer it's public one way and not another through simple, brain dead 'research'.
 
I recall in the original DOOM; the graphics files were not hidden, encoded, compressed or anything and they could be viewed and edited with just about any paint program. So I had a ball making up my own bad guys for the game.
Being that was in the early 90s I must be a very sophisticated cyber criminal by now right?? :D
 
Haven't you noticed yet that almost all articles coming from the mainstream press is pure idiocy. But most of the time you're not an expert in the field they talk about so you don't notice it. They no longer consult with actual experts there is no such thing as peer review, there is no such thing as research. They just want to beat everyone else to the clicks. Doesn't matter if what they're saying is accurate at all, doesn't matter if it's true on any level. As long as it gets clicks. They no longer want to inform you, they want to play into your* established prejudices and misconceptions.

*meaning their demographic
 
I recall in the original DOOM; the graphics files were not hidden, encoded, compressed or anything and they could be viewed and edited with just about any paint program. So I had a ball making up my own bad guys for the game.
Being that was in the early 90s I must be a very sophisticated cyber criminal by now right?? :D
That or a psycopathic killer who sees everyone as a demon that needs to be dismantled with a chainsaw.
 
Haven't you noticed yet that almost all articles coming from the mainstream press is pure idiocy. But most of the time you're not an expert in the field they talk about so you don't notice it. They no longer consult with actual experts there is no such thing as peer review, there is no such thing as research. They just want to beat everyone else to the clicks. Doesn't matter if what they're saying is accurate at all, doesn't matter if it's true on any level. As long as it gets clicks. They no longer want to inform you, they want to play into your* established prejudices and misconceptions.

*meaning their demographic
Absolutely true.
The National Inquirer has more credibility. "Bigfoot's alien space baby" is just as crazy as "Trump collusion with Russia to defeat Clinton" Both with 0.0% real evidence of the claims.
 
aaaaannnnd video games leading to hacking has now turned political. smh
 
It's true...I used Cheat Engine once, and the next day I was out hacking my grandma and stealing her bitcoins. I'm posing this from prison right now.
 
You guys are missing the real threat from this article, did you see that crazy hacker girl in the first pic? The caption sent chills down my spine! "A girl stares at her computer screen"
 
This is true,
I help with a lot of mods of games before and now the gov think i am a domestic terrorist.
 
One of the first things I did with a computer, just after playing video games, was using the DOS editor to modify a Star Trek text game to do what I wanted it to do. I gave myself 255 photon torpedoes and made the "experimental" weapon always kill all the enemies in the quadrant.

Today, I'm a sysadmin, but I've never hacked someone else's computer in my life, except to fix something.

Their theory obviously didn't apply to me.
 
Pure Right-Wing type idiocy.

I get building and overclocking are not every-man skills, basic use/understand tech matters should be.
 
After years of support, intense therapy, and experimental psychosis medications, without a doubt, gaming was my gateway drug. And I hate to admit it, but during those years, Kevin Mitnick was my hero. Dark times indeed!
 
Why not go all the way then? "Buying a computer is a gateway to criminal hacking" It's no less true than this. Or we can spice it up with thought crime, right wingers like that too.
 
I recall in the original DOOM; the graphics files were not hidden, encoded, compressed or anything and they could be viewed and edited with just about any paint program. So I had a ball making up my own bad guys for the game.
Being that was in the early 90s I must be a very sophisticated cyber criminal by now right?? :D
I have very fond memories of modding games. I made a few levels for doom2, that was fun.
1) Diablo 2. Original diablo 2 character saves had all of the character traits in plain binary values unencoded. This was my very first experience with hexadecimal editing. I was able to take my 40 str barbarian and give him 100 str. Awesome
2) GTA2. Gta2 car physics (speed, acceleration, mass, etc) were in plain text files hidden somewhere in the game folder. I had fun making my own (barely drivable) cars.
 
U.K's National Crime Agency =/= scientists. It's just another government funded agency looking to steer it's public one way and not another through simple, brain dead 'research'.

Ah, thanks for the clarification. When I see "research" I assume some level of rigor. Which is probably exactly what was intended...
 
Everyone knows that the only cheat code you need to be an uber hacker is "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start".

The trick is figuring out which key is "start" on modern systems.

Hint, it's the Windows key.
 
Modding leads to hacking. Marijuana leads to meth. Guns lead to murder. Buttsex leads to HIV.
 
I set God mode in Fallout 4 and would you know it. 6 months later, I robbed a bank.
 
Yea this is true. I started installing Skyrim mods from Nexus and before I knew it I had hacked into the CIA mainframe. The video game modding just took control of my brain.
 
aaaaannnnd video games leading to hacking has now turned political. smh

It's been political.

I remember being thankful that I graduated the year before Columbine happened because I made a Quake level mod of my high school and gave it to a couple of friends. There was a rash of kids getting in trouble because media thought they were prepping to shoot up their schools when in reality they were probably like me and just thought the overall design of the place made a good death match field. When people don't understand something and are afraid they come up with stupid things to try to protect themselves.
 
It's been political.

I remember being thankful that I graduated the year before Columbine happened because I made a Quake level mod of my high school and gave it to a couple of friends. There was a rash of kids getting in trouble because media thought they were prepping to shoot up their schools when in reality they were probably like me and just thought the overall design of the place made a good death match field. When people don't understand something and are afraid they come up with stupid things to try to protect themselves.

Very true, a friend of mine and I did the same on duke nukem 3d editor. awesome but just not acceptable anymore nowadays. :/

I still think it would be fun to have my old hs rendered in some of the newer games for deathmatches lol
 
Man, I was thinking more Left-Wing type lunacy. These days I can barely tell who's who anymore. Maybe we could agree on Both-Wing type buffoonary?
I dunno. I'd say it would be left wing if game modding was a gateway to hacking for the russians.
It would be right wing if game modding was a gateway to drugs.
 
They have lost the battle against marijuana, so they have gone back to the old tried and true boogeyman of video games.
Having sex must be a gateway to child pornography then...
No, cheese pizza is. Haven't you been keeping up with the times, old man?
 
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