Hopes of Half Life 2 gaming fans are dashed by fake message post

Incident Date: August 27 2004
Incident Location: USA

Fans eagerly awaiting the release of the Half Life 2 computer game were thrilled to see a message on www.hl2fallout.com from Gabe Newell, the managing director of Valve Software, the game’s creator. His August 27, 2004 message board post said that the game was "going gold", or ready for retail CD production, a month in advance of its expected release date.

However, the happiness of fans was short-lived when it was discovered an imposter had hacked Mr. Newell’s account and posted the fake news. Apparently the password for Mr. Newell’s account had been "gaben", which an attacker probably guessed with little trouble and then used to forge the message. Administrators tracked the message to a computer that appeared to be operating as an open Web proxy server, thereby allowing the attacker to mask their actual origin.


Story Sources

Title: Wisely chosen passwords key to personal security
Author: Bo Coaten
Date: 10/21/2004
Publication: The Daily Mississippian
Publication Location: University MS USA
Publication URL: http://www.thedmonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/10/21/4177b382064e0


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