WARNING: Possible Viral Beta Circulation

#1 05-10-2003, 07:07 PM

Greetings Half-Life 2 Community,

I don't mean to scare any of you. But it's extremely important to realize that there are some "fishy" things going on out there with the 'leaked' source code from VALVe. I am hearing some pretty disturbing information from sources which claim there are some malicious programmers attempting to use "social engineering" to spread their dangerous virus/trojan software inside the "hl2_beta.rar", a compiled and successfully working source but no content. Users would/could experience system instability, crashes, and possibly hacks if the hackers build their own mailer program in to the source.

This is not a joke. It's a very real threat. It's not meant to scare any of you, but make you realize that this 'source' or 'beta' that has been rumored to float around could very possibly be used for malicious intent. I am hearing, part of the reason why the 'beta', which has been constantly stated being 'stolen', is taking so long to reach circulation is due to malicious transformation. This is a bad sign and I hope many of you take the proper pre-cautions not to download this material.

For any of you kids out there using your parents computers.. this isn't worth the risk to trash their computer as well. For those of you who own your computer, you have a certain obligation to yourself and your own intelligence not to download something so risky. And for all of us excited about Half-Life 2, you have a LEGAL obligation not to download the source or a "leaked beta". All I have to say is, if you download this "beta" and it really is 1.32 gig of gay porn, or even the full working Source engine with malicious code, you get what you deserve.

Personally, I am not going to be downloading anything. I am a programmer and would love to see the source code myself, but I have a lot of respect for the programmers at VALVe because of what I am. I am also smart enough to realize how dangerous it is to download this content, legally and securely. And as much as I want to see how well my machine will perform in Half-Life2, I wont download this supposed "Half Life 2 beta", as that's just suicide. All you people need to realize is it was stolen by some very efficient hackers, who in turn, develop cheats and virus programs, and if they truly hold a fully working beta or even just the source to use social engineering.. you would be stupid not to believe they would use it to their advantage before releasing it in to circulation. That's why it's taking so long.

Look how many of you already downloaded the 1.32G of gay porn. I have a message for those of you attempted to acquire the beta.. "You have been warned." Next time, you will have bigger problems. And the irony in all of this is, you will see how VALVe feels. Damn, that's funny... poetic justice.

I am looking forward to the Half Life 2 release. Even though the source is released, the game isn't finished. They will be patching it and refining it in the future. Especially with games like Counter-Strike2 or TF2.. so the code you all possess will be less valuable as the years go by. I hope VALVe releases Half Life 2 sometime in the not-so distant future. I really hope VALVe continues to operate and can manage possible "rumored law suits". If you ask me, they should turn around and sue Microsoft. Yes, VALVe should be a little more intelligent about their source code distribution and storage within their company, but Microsoft is still causing problems around the globe with their horribly unpatched, unresovled, exploited insecurities. But that's a different topic and hopefully a different thread.

Good luck Gabe, VALVe, and everybody who supports them through this real shitty event. It sounds like the FBI is involved, and they are making progress. Even though many of you laughed at me on this forum for saying the FBI will be involved.. look who is right? This goes to show that you people don't understand the severity of this event.

Anyway, you have been warned. Please don't make me say "I didn't warn you." Don't make me be right again.

Take care Half-Life 2 Community!

#2 05-10-2003, 07:10 PM

I wonder if these people would take candy from me... :X

Loke · #3 05-10-2003, 07:11 PM

Great post, and thanks for the warning.

Joneleth · #4 05-10-2003, 07:11 PM

It's my belief that if any beta is released to the public, it WILL contain viruses. I would stray entirely away from that sort of thing. I've been hearing about people putting viruses even into the Source code, so I will stay away from that too. It's really not worth it, considering there's not much to be done with the Source code itself.

So I'm agreeing with you here and reccomending that anyone who's trying to find the game, stop now. There's a 99% chance that anything you download could wreck your computer.

rec · #5 05-10-2003, 07:12 PM

Thank you very much for your contribution, Spag. Brilliant write-up, I'll be making this sticky for at least a reasonable period of time.

#6 05-10-2003, 07:12 PM

lol

ohhhh dear, scare tactics, theoretcially anything online can containe virii, its like saying "dont cross the road because you maybe hit by a car"

Im not saying some people wont add virii, but people do that with everything, anyoen with any inteligence will download it from people they trust. I've had the source ages with no probs.

The Mullinator · #7 05-10-2003, 07:13 PM

Best post Ive read all day. Hopefully this will help stop some people from doing something stupid.

theGreenBunny · #8 05-10-2003, 07:17 PM

Very nice post, let's hope people have enough sense to follow the advice.

Dhoco X · #9 05-10-2003, 07:17 PM

Pff.. great ! I would like the computer of all the people who download it were destroyed by the virus.

#10 05-10-2003, 07:18 PM

Yea, you got your hands on the source pretty early. Luckily, the hackers didn't do anything before it was released. Even Gabe said it was hacked a week before it was in circulation. That gives a dedicated hacker enough time to write a mailer program with a worm and a simple virus program or Trojan.

It doesn't look like this happened.. so many of you probably got lucky. But this "beta" which supposedly "exists", really hasn't been confirmed by anybody out there. I heard some bits of info from the ***** clan.. and they mentioned making "use" of the beta before it was released. Whatever that means?

rec · #11 05-10-2003, 07:20 PM

As we've already established, there is no "beta". The "beta" archives are full of virii, and explicit trash.

The only playable article that is circulating is the compiled, yet crippled thanks to lack of any models, sound, textures etc. HL2 source with a couple depressing HL1-esque maps.

Joneleth · #12 05-10-2003, 07:21 PM

Quote:

ohhhh dear, scare tactics, theoretcially anything online can containe virii, its like saying "dont cross the road because you maybe hit by a car"

They're not "scare tactics." Go download one of the supposed "betas" and find out for your ****ing self. This is just a warning. Don't go blaming anyone else but yourself when your computer gets hacked.

D33 · #13 05-10-2003, 07:26 PM

If you're chatting on IRC and all of a sudden your anti-virus ( mainly nortons ) pops up out of the blue saying you've got a trojan. You can ignore it or delete the log.

Basically people are saying something in irc, a certain line of code. Your anti-virus reads the harmless line of code in your text logs and thinks your log is a trojan. It's not. Just an effective illusion.

Many people have been caught out by this.

otomo · #14 05-10-2003, 07:28 PM

anything can have a virus. not recommending downloading or anything but this is pretty much a scare tactic.

#15 05-10-2003, 07:30 PM

Just find a good anti-virus program you like, and download away. You can always format if you think you have a keylogger and like ordering offline