AppSecEU08 Exploiting Online Games

Exploiting Online Games

The talk, based on a book of the same title (co-authored by Greg Hoglund), exposes the inner workings of online game security for all to see, drawing illustrations from MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft to discuss:


 * Why online games are a harbinger of software security issues to come
 * How millions of gamers have created billion dollar virtual economies
 * How game companies invade your privacy
 * Why some gamers cheat
 * Techniques for breaking online game security
 * How to build a bot to play a game for you
 * Methods for total conversion and advanced mods

But ultimately this talk is about security problems associated with advanced massively distributed software. With hundreds of thousands of interacting users, today's online games are a bellwether of modern software yet to come. The kinds of attack and defense techniques I describe are tomorrow's security techniques on display today.