Deep In Security

On top of completely failing to provide what anyone could consider a satisfactory customer experience with the SimCity debacle it has also come to light that there is a massive security hole in Origin; EA's digital distribution service and trojan DRM.

The exploit involves using custom URL's, which origin uses to launch games, to sneak a malicious DLL files onto your system. A similar problem was discovered to exist in Valve's Steam client last year. Both issues are, as yet, to be addressed.

Similarly an exploit in EA's free to play Battlefield game has been discovered, If you are using Windows XP or Windows 2003 and are running the Battlefield free to play game. Again, a malicious URL can be used to execute the game. Because of how the free to play games update system works it will load a �MOD� that is actually several files, one of which is a .BAT file which can be used to wreak havoc on vulnerable systems.

Revealed at last weeks Black Hat security conference in Amsterdam, these security breaches in conjunction with the failure of SimCity's fundamental service paints a picture of gross contempt for consumers on the part of EA. These security holes were discovered in February but information about various security problems inherent in the use of URL's in handling game launch shortcuts has been floating around since the same security flaw was found in Steam last year.

Still more examples of EA's failures to provide adequate service for their customers continue to arise. EA's insistence on using always on-line DRM to sate their ravenous paranoia about the effects of piracy. The main effect that customers have noticed from piracy in the case of SimCity is a better game experience if they did so themselves.


*only pirates booty on the seven seas yarrrrrg*

Source: ArsTechnica, Time Magazine