Category Archives: Crime

Four members of Lulzsec have earned the UK’s longest ever jail sentences for hacking.

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A man believed to have been involved in a 2008 attack on the PlayStation Network has been given a year of house arrest.

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A 14 year-old who shot his parents with a pistol taken from his father’s gun cabinet, leaving both injured and his mother stable but awaiting further surgery, has told police video games made him violent.

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US vice president Joe Biden has presented 19 executive actions to president Barack Obama as part of a plan to reduce gun crime – and none of them mention video games in any way, according to a Politico report. Games were, as usual, highlighted by media and interest groups in the wake of the tragic events at Sandy Hook last year, but after meeting with games industry representatives the politician apparently decided to turn his attention to other potential causes for the US’s disturbingly high gun crime levels.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.

Thieves have made off with $2 million worth of Wii U consoles after a raid on a warehouse.

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The Russian government is looking into how violent games in the region are handled after a shooter, who just so happens to like playing videogames, killed six co-workers at the Rigla pharmaceutical warehouse.

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UK resident Justin Success Brooks has been charged with selling counterfeit Nintendo games, according to the Croydon Guardian.

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A PlaySpan breach by hackers has been shut down after the firm detected and terminated illegal access to the Marketplace.

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Swen Vincke, founder of Larian Studios, has said the firm still has no leads on who made off with two PCs containing builds of Divinity: Dragon Commander and Divinity: Original Sin at gamescom.

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A $5,000 is being offered for stolen PCs at gamescom containing Divinity: Dragon Commander and Divinity: Original Sin builds. The two PCs were stolen from Larian’s booth in the business hall at gamescom, containing early builds of the aforementioned games. Larian is offering the reward as an incentive for information leading to the identification of the culprit and return of the PCs. The team is currently using backup PCs at the event in the meantime, so if you anyone has any information on the stolen tech, head over to Business Hall 4.2, Booth A-16 to let the team know.

A Massachusetts teen may face up to 15 years of prison time for stealing Runescape currency.

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Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Television wants to ban gaming bots which gather resources in gaming, as well as the ability for players to trade and farm virtual items.

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Lewys Martin, of Deal, Kent has been sentenced to 18 months for distributing a virus inside a Call of Duty hack.

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In order to make sure there isn’t a recurrence of last year PSN security breach, back in October 2011 Sony hired Brett Wahlin, a former US counter-intelligence officer and former McAfee chief security officer, who has said the security experts at the firm need to think more like “social engineers.”

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A handful of LulzSec have been taken into custody in the US and UK, and the round-up can be attributed to “Sabu,” who was the alleged leader of the hack group.

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The Taco Bell-Vita scandal reached new heights today as a hacker has claimed to have nefariously “tricked” the restaurant chain into sending him a Vita.

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One of three men charged with the mugging of a visiting Malaysian student during the London riots has received a long prison sentence, the Daily Mail reports. Beau Isagba is the first of three accused men to be tried for the crime, which became an Internet phenomenon after video of the attack went viral. One of the items stolen in the brutal attack was a PSP, with the victim known as “the PSP boy” until identified; SCEE quietly replaced the lost device, and Namco Bandai sent a package of games.

The Obama administration has responded to a petition against the SOPA and PIPA bills stating: “any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small.”

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Microsoft has responded to yesterday’s report which claimed the rash of compromised Xbox Live accounts lately were due to “brute force” unauthorized access through legitimate channels. In a statement provided to IGN, the firm said there wasn’t any “loophole” allowing the invasions, as the method of attack is “an industry-wide issue.” Microsoft also noted, once again, many accounts are compromised due to malware and phishing scams used to glean user passwords. “Online fraud and identity theft are industry-wide problems, and as such people using any online services should set strong passwords, not share those passwords across multiple services and refrain from sharing any personal details that could leave them vulnerable,” read the statement. “As always, we highly recommend our members follow the Xbox Live Account Security guidance provided [here] to protect your account.”

The firm contends there hasn’t been a security breach within the XBL service.

It looks as though the Xbox.com website may be the source of the recent wave of compromised Xbox Live accounts, according to a report on Eurogamer.

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