I built a tool to hack Letterpress

Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by Karunamon on Sunday November 11, 2012 @11:15PM (#4771579)

Neat I guess, but I wish it hadn't been released. There's something to say for security through obscurity when the target is only a video game.

I hope my boss doesn't find this. He's already a prolific words with friends cheater.

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Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by smosher on Monday November 12, 2012 @02:56AM (#4771981)

There's something to say for security through obscurity when the target is only a video game.

There is. In case you were curious, it goes a lot like this: It doesn't work.

It doesn't take a genius to crack a game. The most important quality one needs is curiosity. I've personally lost count of the number of games I've messed with, and that's not a boast. Anyone can do it if they try.

I've never done it to cheat at a competitive game, however I have had a number of competitive and even cooperative games ruined by people cheating in such a manner. If it can happen it probably will, especially if the game is popular. Developers of commercial games should be obligated to take this kind of thing seriously (I am looking at you, Team Meat.)

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Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by Karunamon on Monday November 12, 2012 @03:09AM (#4772009)

>There is. In case you were curious, it goes a lot like this: It doesn't work.

Sure it does, enough, anyways. I'd be willing to be the majority of players don't cheat and have no interest in cheating.

The remainder that have an interest can be futher subdivided into "no idea how, no idea how to begin", "no idea how, but curious enough to look", and with the addition of the author's post, "no idea how, but a google search away with step by step instructions".

It's a cool hack, don't get me wrong, but now the developer is going to have to rewrite their system to mitigate this, and in the meantime, there are going to be a bit more dicks in the world.

But at least there was a nifty wrapper released- I just wish it wasn't for black hat purposes ;)

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Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by smosher on Monday November 12, 2012 @09:59AM (#4773041)

Of those with interest, if any of them are programmers or have the slightest curiosity about what all those files are for, they're abundantly competent to pull off this hack. Not necessarily the automation, but they can make it happen.

but now the developer is going to have to rewrite their system to mitigate this

This hack was literally waiting there for anyone who cared to look. Please don't tell me you've forgotten this: http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/1641/itsfinetrustme.png

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Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by Jare on Monday November 12, 2012 @03:36AM (#4772045)

For game developers, security against hacks is a matter of ROI. And we know that it's usually much easier for hackers to find a few holes than for us to plug all of them, so we often go for the low hanging fruit, rely on players policing themselves, and especially in the F2P arena, disregard players using a hack as players who weren't going to pay anyway.

Of course different games have different considerations in this regard. Consider Draw Something, where the game itself provides the ultimate built-in cheat: draw the word the other person is supposed to guess!

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Re:I built a tool to hack Letterpress by smosher on Monday November 12, 2012 @11:56AM (#4773600)

Yes, I can certainly appreciate that, but I think there is a minimum you can aim for without going too far out of your way. I could go into detail, but I think I'd be listing off things you already know.

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