Hacker steals MMO source code to launch own game

In a story that reads like a what’s-what of things you probably shouldn’t do, ever, a Dutch man has been accused of hacking an MMO’s servers, stealing the source code, rebuilding and launching it as his own game, then threatening the original developers with extortion.

According to prosecutors, Anil Kheda (24) of the Netherlands, and a number of unnamed accomplices, hacked into the servers of Rampid Interactive’s free browser-based MMO Outwar after one of Kheda’s accounts was suspended in November 2007 for undisclosed reasons.

Outwar – serious business.

Two months later, they released the totally inconspicuously-named Outcraft, a clone built using stolen assets from Outwar that generated over $10,000 profits for the group.

During this time and for several months thereafter, Kheda and his cronies also repeatedly compromised Outwar’s servers, restoring suspended player accounts and causing substantial downtime for Rampid Interactive’s MMO with an estimated loss of around $100,000 in lost revenues, employee salaries, and hosting costs.

This wasn’t enough for Kheda, though, who was apparently pretty upset about his account suspension, but may also have somewhat underplayed his own hand.

“You guys have the following three options,” he wrote to Rampid Interactive in an email. “1. Let me play again on my master account (with everything that was on it), and I will report everything when I come across a vulnerability. 2. Pay me $1500 and you will never hear from me again. 3. Don’t reply to this e-mail and you are gonna wish you picked one of the other options.”

“One thousand, five hundred dollars.”

It’s not clear whether those consequences included sharks with laser-beams attached to their heads, but I’d guess it’s safe to assume not.

Kheda is now being charged US District Court in New Hampshire with conspiring to commit computer intrusion and making extortionate interstate threats, and if convicted, faces up to seven years of hard time in prison. Basically because he couldn’t deal with his account suspension like a big boy.