Valve Software sends word that arrests have been made internationally in the highly publicized
theft of source code for Half-Life 2 (
story), their eagerly anticipated first-person shooter sequel:
Online Community Tracks Down
Hackers
June, 10 2004 – Arrests have been made in several countries related to the
break-in to Valve’s network, theft of the Half-Life 2 source code, and release
of the source code on the Internet.
“Within a few days of the announcement of the break-in, the online gaming
community had tracked down those involved,” said Gabe Newell, Valve’s CEO. “It
was extraordinary to watch how quickly and how cleverly gamers were able to
unravel what are traditionally unsolvable problems for law enforcement related
to this kind of cyber-crime.”
Thousands of tips were received related to the criminal activities, with a core
group of people who were able to analyze and backtrack from these clues.
Subsequent to these individuals being identified, Valve has been working with
various national authorities to prepare cases against those involved, leading to
these arrests.
“It was very uplifting to see how the community rallied and tracked these people
down. Everyone here at Valve is once again reminded of how much we owe to the
gaming community,” added Mr. Newell.