Hacking in online games a widespread problem

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise that the hacking of online games is a widespread problem. After all, the desire to gain control or power--be it in terms of wealth, or the capabilities of one's in-game character--is one reason that folks play games in the first place. Of course, while it is one thing to cheat by the use of prohibited automated bots, the greater concern is the exploitation of actual bugs in the games to gain an unfair advantage.

At a Thursday panel called "Exploiting Online Games" at the RSA 2009 security conference this week, Greg Hoglund, the founder of Rootkit.com told of how a security expert figured out a hack that allowed him to filch the virtual currency from the users of Second Life--which is directly convertible to U.S. dollars.

Such incidents continue to happen in spite of continuous efforts by developers and game publishers to fix bugs. The panel concluded that the barriers to exploiting online games or virtual worlds are easily surmountable to those with the necessary skills.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at CNET News