This is a warning aimed at the whole UT2004 community

[}TCP{Coco]

Nice post. It reflects mostly everything I was thinking about that matter. Thanks for taking the effort of putting it together.

[}TCP{Ramses]

Powerful post Wolf

Are there any plans (anywhere) to develop a kind of Antivirus for UT2k4, which would warn of any stealth attempts to invade privacy or, in particular, to change the client files ? I'm sure the hackers would have developed such a thing if it were possible (they probably have already ), but would it be possible to develop one in such a way that could protect the innocent thicky like me but still enable an effective anti cheat program to work ? Perhaps something that is peer reviewed amongst the coders in the community ?


Now for my comments on your wider observations ... you can safely ignore the following except the mantra MODERATION IN ALL THINGS !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Cut Here----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm afraid it's not just in politics that there can be a general tendancy to overkill on a problem and move towards extreme measures. Many procedures and policies in business methodologies, which come and go in fashion, tend towards the extreme. They usually end up being counter productive as the workers find a way around to avoid critisism. There are many examples of equally important work not covered by a performance target getting neglected for example, as people work towards the particular targets in fashion at the time, and quite often just massage those figures to avoid critisism anyway. Quite often these methodology fashions are not well thought through; they originate from someone somewhere trying to justify their existance or make a name for themselves, and when implemented are an excuse for lazy management. I was an auditor, it was part of my job to implement, monitor and improve sytems of internal controls, so I know something about these things

On the political front, most people, certainly in the UK, have only a little knowledge or understanding of history and the dangers that it can hightlight. So inevitably lessons learned in the past are mostly forgotten after a generation or two. People who warn of the dangers are often ignored and eventually the population finds itself living in a fait accompli.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a revolutionary and I think we are very lucky to live in a modern democracy even with it's flaws, but it is important to defend individuals' rights and to censure those who would erode those rights as Wolf said.

There are many modern examples of abuse of rights as politicians try to impose their own personal will on the people. I was horrified by the treatment of the miners in Thatchers Britain, whole communities stopped by the police from legally travelling on the roads, eventually crushed by the very state that should have been protecting their rights. More recently, the UK police tactic of "kettling" protestors (coralling them in one place for hours on end, not allowing tem to leave even for a loo break ) must surely be an afront to any right thinking person and an obvious abuse and infringement of law abiding citizen's rights. Recent UK Anti-Terrorist legislation has been misused in many ways, the most ludicrous example being the elderly gentleman who was thrown out of a public political meeting for disagreeing with the speaker, under the terrorist laws !

As someone said, the classic 1984 was supposed t be a warning, not a blueprint

[DavVador]

If you wanna see me like a politician, ok, why not, your opinion...

But dont forget NHK only logs what you may call "private" data when there's some suspicion (suspicious filenames to be exact).
It also logs without any suspicion, meaning for every player connected, game infos + guid + ip + names, like every ut2004 server do.

If i wanted to make espionage i would log every file on your computer, not only suspicious ones and wouldnt need to pretend it's an anticheat.
And if you dont trust the code or me, ask CB C&A chiefs, if it's clean or not, they'll tell you what they think about it

On a funny note, look at this screen made on DIE server, with antitcc running :

Oh my private stuff just got exposed to everyone on the server...
Source : http://clanbase.ggl.com/warinfo.php?wid=10812452

[DavVador]

Perhaps something that is peer reviewed amongst the coders in the community ?

NHK has been reviewed recently by wormbo and C&A chief of CB.

[menace]

lolololololol at anti tcc xD

[}TCP{Carnage]

Well again like i stated in my mail .. the part that worries me is the reading of the user.ini
u says i does not read admin commands(logins and whatever else) .. i will just have to take your word on that coz i will never see it.
And it apperantly also gets the computername .. what else does it get ?

There are too many things not disclosed or explained anywhere .. hence i do not trust it (i am sure it is all done with the best intensions but ...)

[Mupp3t]

but, probably a lame question:

how does the program flag something as suspicious , hackers can name their files anyway they want.. ? i mean the program aint searching inside the files, else it would be a far to heavy proggy serverside.

[}TCP{Coco]

Oh my private stuff just got exposed to everyone on the server...

May I ask where on your hd the files were located? I think AntiTCC only checks the game folder, so this would just be possible if you copied these files there.

[DavVador]

Well again like i stated in my mail .. the part that worries me is the reading of the user.ini
u says i does not read admin commands(logins and whatever else) .. i will just have to take your word on that coz i will never see it.

It doesnt read the .ini.
UT2004 as a dedicated security command to retreive binds directly.
The mutator then removes the admin logins command in order to not reveal login/passwords.
And again if you dont trust my words, you can ask the persons who reviewed the code.

And it apperantly also gets the computername .. what else does it get ?

It doesnt get the computername.
All it gets are gameinfos, IP, GUID, names and suspicious filenames.
Then it's your choice to imagine it do more.

There are too many things not disclosed or explained anywhere .. hence i do not trust it (i am sure it is all done with the best intensions but ...)

Your choice.

[DavVador]

Oh my private stuff just got exposed to everyone on the server...

May I ask where on your hd the files were located? I think AntiTCC only checks the game folder, so this would just be possible if you copied these files there.

2 were in game folder, BUT 1 was in C:\
Antitcc by defaults checks game folder + C:\ + prefetch folder.
And if i make some sexcam with some UT players, i find it normal to have those vidz in my UT folder xD

If you wanna add fun you can add other folders manually, but it would be a pain in the ass.

[DavVador]

but, probably a lame question:

how does the program flag something as suspicious , hackers can name their files anyway they want.. ? i mean the program aint searching inside the files, else it would be a far to heavy proggy serverside.

Sorry i wont discuss the internal process.

[}TCP{Coco]

2 were in game folder, BUT 1 was in C:\
Antitcc by defaults checks game folder + C:\ + prefetch folder.
And if i make some sexcam with some UT players, i find it normal to have those vidz in my UT folder xD

If you wanna add fun you can add other folders manually, but it would be a pain in the ass.

Hmm, Worbo wrote about this:

Scans for files outside the UT2004 or Windows\Prefetch directory are being announced by Anti TCC and they are not scanned unless the player explicitly agrees.

So according to this, C:\ isn't correct unless you agree.

[}TCP{Wolf]

On a funny note, look at this screen made on DIE server, with antitcc running

If that spider has consented prior to the act I see no problem ^^

[DavVador]

2 were in game folder, BUT 1 was in C:\
Antitcc by defaults checks game folder + C:\ + prefetch folder.
And if i make some sexcam with some UT players, i find it normal to have those vidz in my UT folder xD

If you wanna add fun you can add other folders manually, but it would be a pain in the ass.

Hmm, Worbo wrote about this:

Scans for files outside the UT2004 or Windows\Prefetch directory are being announced by Anti TCC and they are not scanned unless the player explicitly agrees.

So according to this, C:\ isn't correct unless you agree.

Take a screen of antitcc running and tell me where it talks about scanning prefetch or C:\
=> answer = nowhere

[}TCP{Coco]

Take a screen of antitcc running and tell me where it talks about scanning prefetch or C:\
=> answer = nowhere

As I said: According to Wormbo, C:\ istn't even scanned. And I don't see any problems with scanning the Prefetch folder tbh.