This Nerdy Teen is the FBI’s Most Wanted Hacker
Summary
TLDRビデオ脚本は、世界各地のハッキング事件に直面するディラン・ウィーラーという少年ハッカーの物語を展開します。12歳からハッキングを始めて、Epic Games、Valve、Microsoft、さらには米軍にまで手を伸ばし、1億ドルを盗んだディランは、他の少年たちが逮捕された後、ポーランドに逃亡しました。彼はそこで銀行強盗計画を企図し、成功するも隠されたカメラに捉えられ、ついに逮捕されました。ビデオは、彼がXboxのセキュリティを破るためにハッキングし始めた物語から、企業間スパイ活動、1800万ドルのFIFAフットボール詐欺に至るまでの彼の道のりを追跡します。
Takeaways
- 😀 デイラン・ウィーラーは12歳からハッキングを始めて、Epic Games、Valve、Microsoft、米軍などから1億ドルを盗んだ後、ポーランドに逃亡しましたが、資金が尽きていました。
- 😲 ポーランドの銀行を強盗する計画を立て、セキュリティカメラが甘いとの情報に基づいて夜分遅くに銀行に忍び込み、盗んだ金品を袋に詰めて去りました。
- 🤖 しかし、彼らは銀行の壁に隠されたカメラがすべてを見ていたことを気づかずにいました。その結果、デイランはついに逮捕されました。
- 🎮 最初はXboxで海賊版ゲームを無料でプレイするためにハッキングを始めた一団のティーンエイジャーが、企業間スパイ活動に至るまでの道をたどりました。
- 🔒 Xbox 360のセキュリティはオリジナルXboxのハッキングから学び、非常に強化されており、改ざんやモッドができない「ハック不能」と称されました。
- 🛠️ 開発キット(dev kit)はゲーム開発のための特別なコンソールで、非常にrareであり、Microsoftはそれらを開発者に貸与しています。
- 🧩 ロウディはE-ウエストリサイクル業者で、Xbox 360開発キットを見つけ、ゲームハッカーに渡しました。これにより、ハッカーは署名されていないコードを実行できるようになりました。
- 💡 ロウディが見つけた開発キットを購入したデビッド・ポコラは、ゲーム「Halo 3」を改ざんし、それをHaloMods.comで共有し、コミュニティに衝撃を与えました。
- 💸 アンソニー・クラークとデビッドは、Halo 3の改ざんを完成させるために協力し、パートナーネット(PartnerNet)にアクセスし、リリース前のゲームに触れることができました。
- 🔓 2009年に2人のハッカーがXbox 360のセキュリティを破ったと発表し、一般のXbox 360でも開発キットの機能を実行できるJTAGエクスプロイトが公開されました。
- 🚨 彼らは自らの改ざんを販売し、1時間に100ドルの料金で大勢の人々から利益を得る一方で、ゲームスタジオからの警告を受けていました。
Q & A
ディラン・ホイールラーはどの年齢からハッキングを始めたと言われていますか?
-ディラン・ホイールラーは12歳からハッキングを始めたと言われています。
ディランはどの国に逃げてしまったとされていますか?
-ディランはポーランドに逃げてしまったとされています。
Xbox 360のセキュリティが強化された理由は何ですか?
-オリジナルのXboxのセキュリティがハッカーによって破られていたため、Xbox 360ではセキュリティが強化され、改ざんやpirated gamesを防ぐために何百万ドルも投資されました。
David Pokoraはなぜ開発キットを欲しがったのですか?
-通常のXbox 360ではMicrosoftから承認されたコードのみ実行でき、開発キットがあることで任意のコードを実行できるため、Davidはゲームを改造するために開発キットを欲しがったのです。
アンソニー・クラークとデイビッドはどのような取引をしましたか?
-アンソニーはデイビッドのHalo 3のモッドを磨き、開発キットの販売者の情報と引き換えに提供するという取引をしました。
パートナーネットとは何ですか?
-パートナーネットはゲーム開発者がXbox Liveで未発表のゲームをテストするためのプラットフォームで、ライセンスを持つ開発者のみがアクセスできます。
デイビッドとアンソニーはなぜFIFAコインの自動生成ツールを開発しましたか?
-FIFAビデオゲームではコインを購入することはできず、ゲームをプレイしてコインを獲得する必要があるため、アンソニーは自動的にゲームをプレイしてコインを獲得し、それらを売却するボットを開発しました。
マイクロソフトはどのようにしてDurangoの情報を漏洩させたと思われるか?
-Durangoの情報を漏洩させたと思われる主な原因は、パスワードの再利用と内部のセキュリティの脆弱性でした。
ディラン・ホイールラーはなぜオーストラリアの警察に逮捕されたのですか?
-ディランはゲーム開発者や米軍に不正にアクセスし、重要な機密情報を盗んだため、オーストラリアの警察に逮捕されました。
デイビッド・ポコラはどのような刑期を受けましたか?
-デイビッド・ポコラは米国貿易機密の盗難で100万ドル以上の損失をもたらし、米国で刑事起訴され、刑期を受けました。
Outlines
😎 少年ハッカーの冒険
ディラン・ウィーラーは12歳からハッキングを始めて、Epic Games、Valve、Microsoft、さらには米軍までを窃盗し、1億ドルを盗んだ。他の少年たちは逮捕されたが、ディランはポーランドに逃げた。そこでは銀行からの強盗計画を立てたが、隠しカメラに捕まった。Xboxのセキュリティ強化とハッカーコミュニティの反乱、そしてディランがハッキングから犯罪に転落するまでの過程が描かれる。
💡 Xbox 360のセキュリティ突破
Xbox 360のセキュリティが強化された背景と、ハッカーがそれを破るまでには多くの努力が要した。開発キットが見つかり、それがハッキングコミュニティに与えた影響について説明する。また、ディレクターキットを手に入れたデビッド・ポコラがゲーム「ハロ3」を改造し、そのモッドを販売し始めた。彼らのモッドはゲーム業界に多大な影響を与え、ハッカーコミュニティがどのようにしてゲーム業界に挑戦したかが語られる。
🔒 セキュリティの脆弱性
パスワードの再利用がデータ漏洩の大きな原因であると警告し、Epic Gamesのハッキングとその影響について説明する。ディランがリークしたデータを使って、Epic Gamesに不正アクセスし、ゲーム「ギアーズ・オブ・ウォー3」を手に入れたが、それがプレイ不能だった。その後、ゲームがオンラインでリークされ、Epic GamesがFBIに調査を依頼した。ディランはFBIの捜査を監視し続けたが、彼の行動は危険な方向に向かっていた。
🚀 ゲーム業界のハッキングビジネス
アンソニー・クラークがFIFAコインの自動獲得ツールを開発し、そのビジネスを拡大した。彼は多くの開発キットを購入し、家での電気代が高くなった。FIFAのセキュリティが強化されたが、アンソニーはCAPTCHAを自動化するボットを開発し、ビジネスを続けた。しかし、彼はそのビジネスが合法であるかどうか疑問に思った。FBIは彼らのネットワークに潜入し、ギアーズ・オブ・ウォー3のリークの犯人を探し始めた。
🌐 グローバルなハッキング事件
ディラン・ウィーラーはオーストラリアの警察に逮捕され、彼はハッキンググループのリーダーであり、MicrosoftのDurango文書を漏洩させた。彼はオーストラリアを出国し、チェコ共和国に逃れた。チェコ共和国では、彼は銀行のセキュリティ会社に就職し、改心したと主張した。しかし、彼は銀行から大量の資金を盗むための偽造を企図し、チェコ警察に逮捕された。一方、アンソニー・クラークはFIFAコインのビジネスで富を築いたが、不正な資金移動の疑いで米IRSに調査され、資産が没収された。
🔚 ハッカー達の最終章
ディランはポーランドで銀行強盗を企てて逮捕され、10年の刑期を宣告された。一方、アンソニーは友人との誕生祝いの夜を過ごした後、誤って薬物とアルコールを混ぜて服用し、死亡した。デビッド、サナド、オースティン・アラカはプログラマーや暗号技術者としてキャリアを築き、家族を持つ者もいた。彼らはこの物語についてコメントを拒否した。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ハッキング
💡Xbox 360
💡開発キット
💡セキュリティーカメラ
💡Epic Games
💡FBI
💡不正行為
💡プロトタイプ
💡ゲームモッド
💡オンラインゲーム
Highlights
Dylan Wheeler从12岁开始黑客行为,成为通缉犯并与一群青少年在逃。
Dylan Wheeler涉嫌从Epic Games、Valve、Microsoft甚至美国军方窃取了1亿美元。
Dylan Wheeler逃至波兰,因听说当地银行安全摄像头松懈而策划抢劫。
Dylan Wheeler和其他青少年黑客因Xbox游戏机的安全漏洞而开始他们的黑客生涯。
Xbox 360因强化了安全措施而被誉为无法被黑客攻破。
Rowdy在一个电子废品回收站发现了极为罕见的Xbox 360开发工具包。
David Pokora使用开发工具包运行未签名代码,开始修改《光环3》游戏。
David和Anthony Clarke通过在HaloMods.com上分享《光环3》的修改版而声名鹊起。
David和Anthony发现开发工具包中的PartnerNet,可以提前玩到未发布的游戏。
2009年,两名黑客公开展示了Xbox 360安全系统的破解方法。
David和Anthony通过出售他们的《光环3》修改版,每天赚取高达8000美元。
Justin May试图在PAX展会上直接向Xbox Live的主管请求解封他的游戏账号。
Justin May在PAX展会上试图偷走Atomic Games展位上的Xbox 360开发工具包。
Dylan Wheeler与David Pokora合作,利用泄露的登录凭证进入Epic Games的网络。
David Pokora和团队通过黑客手段下载了Epic Games的未发布游戏《战争机器3》。
《战争机器3》的泄露成为全国新闻,Epic Games警告下载游戏可能会损坏系统。
Anthony Clarke开发了一个自动玩FIFA游戏赚取游戏币的机器人,并将其出售给中国网站。
David Pokora和团队利用Epic Games的员工密码列表,侵入了多家大型游戏开发商的网络。
Dylan Wheeler因不满论坛上人们对他关于Xbox One的预测的怀疑,泄露了所有从微软窃取的文件。
Dylan Wheeler在eBay上出售了Xbox One原型机Durango,这是微软多年来最大的泄露事件之一。
Dylan Wheeler因黑客行为面临22项重罪指控,但在保释期间逃离澳大利亚前往捷克共和国。
Anthony Clarke的FIFA币业务在八个月内赚取了超过700万美元,但他最终因洗钱被判有罪。
David Pokora和他的团队成员因窃取超过1亿美元的商业机密而被逮捕并起诉。
Dylan Wheeler在捷克共和国因制造假币被捕,之后逃往英格兰并成立了自己的网络安全公司。
Dylan Wheeler最终在波兰因抢劫银行而被判处10年监禁。
Anthony Clarke在庆祝生日后因意外药物过量去世。
David Pokora、Sanad、和Austin Acala在服刑后现在拥有成功的编程和密码学职业生涯。
Transcripts
Facing a litany of hacking
charges across the world.
Dylan Wheeler, a kid
who'd been hacking
since the age of 12,
was a fugitive on the run
with a group of teenagers.
He had stolen a $100 million
from Epic Games Valve, Microsoft,
hell, even the U.S. military.
And while the other teens
were now locked
up, Dylan had escaped to Poland,
but now he was broke.
But from a group of guys he had just met,
he had heard the security cameras
at the local Polish
bank were pretty lax
enough to plan a robbery.
At 3 a.m.
they lined up at the bank
with no one in sight
And As they got inside and Dylan
shut down the security system,
they loaded up their bags with loot
and walked out like it never happened.
But as they got home...To count their stash
and dream of what they could buy,
they had failed to realize
there was a hidden camera in the wall
that had seen it all.
And Dylan Wheeler,
the infamous kid hacker on the run,
was finally caught.
What started out as a gang of teenagers
hacking their Xboxes
to play pirated games
for free would spiral down
the path of corporate espionage,
breaking into the US military in $18
million FIFA Football fraud
that went unnoticed for years.
And it all starts here with the Xbox.
Now, people freaked out when
the Xbox 360 was released,
not because of better games or graphics,
but because this thing had way better security.
Why?
Well, because hackers broke
the security on the original Xbox,
which sprouted
a huge community of hackers
who modded and exploited
and pirated all things Xbox.....and Microsoft
was pretty pissed.
So when the Xbox 360 was released,
they spent millions of dollars to ensure
no one was going to pirate or mod
any game
and actually hailed it as unhackable.
And for over 40 years, the Xbox
hacking world
just could not break the system, meaning
no one could make mods for it
until someone found the missing link
At an E-Waste recycler.
Rowdy was searching for Xbox
DVD drives, you know, as a hobby
he’d like the repair them
kind of like a freak.
But after an hour of scrounging
through the piles
of plastic scraps on the floor,
his eyes lit up.
He had found an Xbox so rare
it actually had no business
even being there.
The Xbox 360 development kit.
Now, this is a huge deal
because a dev kit is a special
console used to make video games.
Microsoft leases them out to developers.
So if you're an Xbox hacker,
that's what you want.
But let me just say,
these dev kits are super rare.
I mean, you have to provide
industry references, resumes, heck
even sign an NDA.
And to top it all off, reselling
a dev kit is not allowed.
But these are so rare. (Mocking Tone)
How did these get here, Vince? (Mocking Tone)
Well, the red ring of death ♪Microsoft
♪ The red ring of doom ♪
The ring of death, one of
the biggest recalls in Xbox history.
And while these Dev Kits were
all going to be crushed off, Rowdy
gave these dev kits
a new home..... in the hands
of some of the most experienced
hackers in the Xbox Scene....
As a child
prodigy, David Pokora had been programing
since he was in diapers
when his parents got him
an original Xbox for Christmas
instead of just playing with it
like a normal kid.
David made mods for it,
but now, years later
with this unhackable Xbox 360.
All he wanted was a dev
because a regular xbox 360
you just buy at Walmart only runs
SIGNED code
which is approved from Microsoft,
but a Dev Kit...Ohhh
that runs unsigned code,
which could be anything David wanted.
So when Rowdy hit him up with the dev kit
for sale,
David took all of the savings
from his grandma's
birthday checks
and he got modding his favorite game,
Halo 3.
Now, through the months
as the Halo 3 Mod got better,
he shared his unpolished Halo
mods on..........HaloMods.com
and people were blown away
because this meant David
had gotten a development kit
which was impossible to get.
And of course they asked him
where did he get it from?
How was he doing this?
But David was not
going to tell him, quote,
You cannot do it.
You won't know how.
No one will tell you how.
And even with the dev kit,
you won't be able to mod.
You want a dev kit?
Good luck finding one.
But Anthony
Clarke, an 18 year old
gifted programmer,
knew David was kind of S*************
I mean, the kid
obviously knew where to get a Dev Kit...
so he hit him up with the little deal.
Anthony would help
polish his Halo 3 mod
in exchange for the number of the guy
who sold them that dev kit.
So what's the deal?
The two agree
they get working on the mod and slowly
they become friends
talking about girls.......and school
and programing in their Halo 3 mod.
But That's when David found
something on his dev kit
that he had only dreamed of ever finding
PartnerNet
It's where game developers test
their unreleased games on Xbox Live,
meaning.... there were dozens
of unreleased games
that they could just play months
before anyone else.
I mean, for a true gamer,
...that's the dream.
But PartnerNet isn't open to the world.
It's only for licensed developers
with the dev kit
and in this case, Anthony and David.
To them, it felt like a secret club
that they were in.
But when developers
noticed their unreleased games
being played online,
they decided to leave the two
a little message.
The next time they logged on.
Winners don't break into partnerNet...
but to Anthony and David,
this wasn't a big deal.
I mean, they were simply just curious
about these upcoming games.
It was all in the name of fun, right?
But outside of stealing games off
PartnerNet
the Halo community was amazed
with how far their mod had come.
Although bummed that
no one could even use it because again,
no one had a dev kit.
But that would all change in 2009.
In a presentation
that rocked Microsoft...Two
hackers revealed
that the Xbox 360 Security
had finally been broken.
The JTAG exploit
within a simple modification,
a regular Xbox 360
can have the abilities of a dev kit
to run
unsigned code
or in other words, mods
and piracy for everyone.
Within days,
thousands of people start JTAGing
their Xboxes and Microsoft,
was just FREAKING out..
because for Anthony and David
potentially now
anyone can use their mods
like infinite ammo
and super jump to cheat online
and people pay good money
to cheat online.
So in a genius move,
they sell access to their mod
for $100 an hour
and kids line up with Daddy's
AMEX (american express credit card) ready to max it out.
The two start
raking in about $8,000
a day, all via PayPal.
Remember,
these are kids making this kind of money.
But for David, making this fast, cash
just didn't do much to him.
According to him, money
was just never the motivation.
Rather,
he craved that high
of stealing those unreleased games.
It was a feeling that he just couldn't
even put a price on.
But now everything had been stolen off
of the partner net,
so to get his hands on even more,
David invited
more hackers into the group.
Now the Xbox Underground
at PAX
2010, developers were showing off
all of their upcoming games.
But Justin May,
a member of the underground
was on a mission.
You see, his Xbox account had been permabanned
He had emailed and called
but with no response back
and without his gamertag.
Justin... was a nobody.
So with nothing left to lose,
he was going to ask the director of Xbox
Live to unban them.........in person
and we have it on video.
I actually came to PAX
primarily for this panel.
Can you Un- ban my gamertag please?
I played forza 3...
I'm sorry.
I’m sorry you shouldnt have done that
_
There are some punishments
for which there's sort of No recourse..
Yeah. The plan fails.
But Justin wasn't just going to walk away
empty handed from Pax.
The next day at the convention,
Justin was stalking
the atomic games booth.
He had saw the golden shrine
on the pedestal,
am Xbox 360 dev kit
loaded with their unreleased game.
It was a Beaut.
Atomic had spent over $6
million developing it.
And Justin, he was just going to take it.
As they turn around, Justin opens up
his laptop, plugs it into the Dev kit.
But then security starts to walk
by and Justin bolts off...
and of course, they chase
right after him.
But being a true Xbox gamer,
he runs out of breath
and they tackle him down.
So now, with tears in his eyes,
he told security
it was all a big misunderstanding.
It was his WiFi not working
and he was connecting to the dev kit
to get on the internet.
But yeah,
the stolen source code was on his laptop.
Justin was F******
because Atomic Games works with the FBI.
So now this whole matter?
Yeah, it's become
a national security issue.
Within an hour,
they raid his home,
confiscate all of the Xboxes...and charge,
a kid with receiving stolen
trade secrets.
But then the rumors come out
that when Justin was arrested,
he was begging the cops that if he was
let go, well, he could name hackers
higher up in him
who stole
way more than just one little game.
But yeah, the judge didn't really care.
Justin would get the death sentence
for a gamer.
He got a court
order that he was banned
from playing his Xbox for 18 months.
And now David knew
he was going to get his hands
on more prerelease games.
He needed to be a lot quieter about it
now with David's growing reputation.
Opportunity’s started
just coming to him, and SuperDAE,
also known as Dylan Wheeler, brought him
the opportunity of a lifetime.
I've come across a leaked form database
with thousands of logging credentials.
Several emails belonging to Epic Games.
Employees thought we could work together
on this........ SuperDAE.
Now a lot of people
reuse their passwords,
and hackers know that.
Now it's
the biggest reason
why leaks like this even happen,
because it just reuse passwords.
Now, several emails in
this leak were at Epic Games.com.
So it's just one of those employees
reuse their passwords.
David could enter Epic games and steal
from one of the biggest video
game developers in the world.
But this kind of seemed
too good to be true
because who really was Dylan?
He said he'd been hacking
since the age of 12
and that he went to high
school in Australia
and that he just come out of nowhere
with this. I mean, was the kid fed?
But these logins did work,
although the minute
they logged into Epic games,
there was another problem.
These accounts for just the I.T.
support staff at Epic Games,
meaning they couldn't
see any of these upcoming
projects or games or, as Dylan said,
what a waste.
They just fix printers
and reset passwords.
But David's a smart cookie
because he thinks, well,
we have access to their emails.
Let's search for the word
password in those emails.
And that's when they come across
the granddaddy of corporate I.T.,
perhaps a master password list
for every employee that epic games
all on a word document
just for anyone to look at.
And all of this
because one employee
reused their password.
Okay. So my advice just check to see
if your private information
has been leaked in a data breach
and right now you can check that
using today's sponsored
Guardian.
Guardian is a browser extension
and mobile app
that provides real time protection
against threats that thrive
in that security gap.
Standard solutions
can't even help with the protects
against the latest
malware and hijackers
that are spread everywhere
online from downloading a game mod
to clicking on malicious out on Facebook
disguised as legitimate software.
Guardian knows that attacked
and blocked them.
Now we already saw that two factor
authentication won't keep us safe
if we just happened
to download the wrong file.
Sophisticated hijackers
can bypass
two factor authentication
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Now the proof goes back
while infiltrating Epic's network.
They check in to the CEO,
the Art director Project Lead
tell even find a USB drive
for the chairman's Lamborghini
music loaded with Lady Gaga.
But after days of searching, David
finally found
what he had been looking for
the Mac daddy of unreleased games
Gears of War three.
This game had been delayed
multiple times.
Real gamers were dying to play it,
but David just couldn't download it.
I mean, even with an encrypted
Nigerian VPN,
it could obviously be traced back then.
What he needed was a hacked modem.
Makes it impossible
for anyone to track your down
and gives you free internet.
Well, these are normally impossible
to get a member of the underground.
Sanad..... He had one
At 3AM Sanad downloads
the game to a remote server
using this hacked modem.
But instead of just sending
a download link,
which again could be tracked,
then it burns
the game onto Blu rays
and emails him out to the crew.
So after all of the hard work and crimes
that they had committed,
David rips open
that package and pops
that sucker in and oh my God,
the game sucked.
It wasn't even playable.
But that's
when the fear set in for David,
because if this ever got out
that they had hacked into Epic games,
Yeah, they were looking at
some serious prison time.
Yeah. The next day, Gears of War
Three was leaked online
and yeah, it made national news.
Gears of War Three was leaked on the web.
Epic Games
warned people that downloading the title
may actually melt your system
because Epic had spent over $60 million
on its production
and Epic promised the public
they would find the SICK F****
could ever do such a thing.
But David just couldn't sleep.
I mean, did Epic have any evidence?
Were they just going to pop in
and arrest him?
And this curiosity
drove him into
hacking into Epic games again.
Where..... now
he found out that
the FBI was now involved,
but that still doesn't deter David.
They continue to stay in Epic's network
knowing that the FBI was in there
for months.
But just to monitor the investigation.
And although David
put up a strong front
to the others behind the scenes,
a kid was freaking out.
But David's problems only grew...
His Cheating Mod Business
that he had with Anthony Clarke.
Yeah, that was getting railed
with the Cease & desist letters
from game studios.
So the two shut that business down
but they remain pretty close friends.
Well David continued on his warpath
of stealing unreleased games.
Well Anthony Clarke
he had found his next
business opportunity
now in the FIFA
video game, you can earn FIFA coins
to build out a better team
playing against a computer or humans,
but these coins cannot be bought.
You have to play games to get coins.
But Anthony came across websites
that sold FIFA coins for cash.
Yeah, they were in China
and they did look a little sketch,
but you could buy the coins with cash.
And he got Anthony thinking,
What if he made a bot
that could automatically play
the FIFA game to earn the coins
and then maybe sell them off
to these Chinese websites? Genius idea.
So as a proof of concept,
he spends months developing a tool
and oh boy,
we're way better than even thought
it could play one whole game
against the computer
within a second, earning him
thousands of coins
a minute with just one Xbox
development kit running this tool.
It made about Anthony 30 bucks
an hour automatically
24 seven per machine.
But then his first week of wholesaling
coins out to China,
Anthony had made a couple of grand
and of course the business grew.
He bought dozens of dev kids
racking up the electricity bill
at his house.
And while David wanted nothing
to do with the FIFA Coin business..
he referred him out.
More programmers
like Nathan Leroux
and Austin Acala
to develop the tool even further.
And this business grew.
But was this even legal?
Now, after a few months of watching
every email come through epic games,
the FBI just stopped
emailing their security team
because even with the crew
still inside of Epic’s network,
they had no idea who had leaked
Gears of War three or in other words,
they had gotten away with it.
David grew intoxicated by the power
he had of leveraging his skills
not only for personal gain,
but now financial gain
instead of stealing games for free.
Oh, he had found a bunch
of rich ass gamers
who would pay him the big bucks
to steal games for a business.
This whole hacking thing?
Yeah,
it was a growing, expanding business.
Now, if you ever played Fortnite, **Screams of Pleasure**
you've probably heard of Unreal Engine.
Now it's a tool for game
developers to build out the worlds
and you know, some of the biggest video
games out there and wouldn't you know it
Unreal Engine is owned by Epic games,
meaning that a master password
list for every employee that epic.
Yeah that could be a springboard
into hacking into every company
in the goddamn world.
So with months of meticulous planning,
they sneaked through the virtual defenses,
mainly using reused passwords.
They began to break in and steal
from every major game
developer in the world.
Hundreds of companies,
thousands of games having total control
over their networks,
or is a David said himself.
to the Australian Department of Defense?
I have every single big company...
Intel, AMD Nvida, any game company you can name
Microsoft, Disney, Warner Brothers,
Disney, everything.
But after breaching Microsoft,
that's when they stole the secret
that had been hidden from the public Eye.
It was the files for the unreleased Xbox
One prototype called the Durango,
the source code, the tech specs,
all of the assembly instructions
for a group of Xbox hackers
having the next gen Xbox documents.
Yeah, that's like the craziest thing ever.
And they decided
they were going to build
a counterfeit of it.
Now would probably sound insane,
but a Durango or Xbox
One is just off the shelf
parts like a computer.
So using those documents
they stole is a build guide.
They put together a counterfeit Durango
and they just stare at it
because there was no games for it.
So, Austin Acala thinks....
Maybe we can sell this,
you know, to make some money off
of that Microsoft hack, but not on eBay.
That would bring way too much heat.
So Austin builds out the Durango
and they find a dude
in West Africa
who pays them five grand
for this counterfeit Durango.
And then all of a sudden,
after talking to
no one for two years,
Justin May shows up and he's back in the crew
and he offers to ship it out
because, quote,
I can get a good deal on shipping.
And the crew lets him.
But the Durango would never even arrive
because the buyer in West Africa,
that was the FBI.
Now Dylan Wheeler was the kid who just
always had to be right.
And now
with this secret
knowledge of the Xbox One,
he argued all day in the forums
about what it would be,
what it looked like.
But no one believed him.
And this pissed off Dylan Wheeler.
So much
so he ends up leaking
all of the stolen
documents from Microsoft
and hell even puts his Twitter handle
in it.... he thinks. that em show em...
But then behind everyone's backs,
that's still not enough.
He puts the Durango on eBay
and of course, the news picks it up.
They got a Durango on eBay
that got the documents all leaked.
It's one of Microsoft's
biggest leaks in years.
And although the crew was
freaking out over this
attention, Dylan just loved it.
He was doing interviews
as the Xbox Leak kid.
What was the whole purpose of you
leaking information
about Durango to Microsoft over
the purpose of
this is what can happen
if you don't fix these problems.
This wasn't malicious,
but it's still not enough.
Dylan NOW wants games for his Durango
so he starts hacking into more video game
companies by himself
to find more upcoming games.
But he finds something even better.
Zombie Studios
has a direct VPN connection to the U.S.
military.
Maybe they were making the game,
he thought.
So he gets in the network
and instead of some stupid Xbox game,
we find something even crazier.
The training simulator for the AH-64D
Apache helicopter.
And he thinks
maybe I could sell it to the Arabs.
So he commits espionage and steals
a half a million lines of code
and he just could not wait to tell David.
I mean, that's the ultimate
unreleased game, right?
Oh, but David
was livid, stating,
How the hell
are we even supposed to play this?
You're an idiot.
The Arabs already have
Apache helicopters,
so why would they need a simulator?
Get the hell out of here, man.
You're done.
But Dylan's problems
were just only beginning.
At the age of 17, Dylan Wheeler
had Microsoft investigator
Miles Hawkes in his living room.
Now, he had flown
all the way out to Australia
just to ask Dylan,
How did he get all these
Durango documents?
And Dylan
just tells them
everything.....That HE hacked into Microsoft
with a team of experts
that he was the leader of.
And it was all because
he was a curious little boy.
But that whole
putting the Durango on eBay,
that was just the big joke.
Lighten up, buddy.
So Miles
lets them off with a little warning.
Stop hacking Microsoft,
stop posting Durango stuff on eBay
and we're all good.
The next
day, Dylan puts the
Durango on eBay
and Microsoft shuts down the listing
and Bill Gates calls in a little raid
from the Australian PO LICE
They bust in through his house
and oh boy,
they find evidence
of hacking into the U.S.
military, hundreds of game developers,
and that he had hosted servers
with child content on it,
which that detail gets left out a lot.
So now Dylan's facing
22 felony charges
awaiting trial out on bail,
but it even gets dumber.
He does an interview with Kotaku magazine
readers, tells the world
that he had hacked
into every game developer.
But it wasn't just to make money.
No, no, no.
It was just because...He was
a curious little boy.
The interview is linked down below,
and it's pretty funny.
Even the reporter doesn't believe em...
Oh, in all that child stuff
again, that wasn't him.
That was just the other hackers
in the Xbox Underground
who had also been
now been raided by the feds,
except for David.
Now, while David's crew
was just falling apart, Anthony
Clarke's business was growing
like a startup.
Their production increased to 1 million
FIFA coins a second.
Anthony hired
programmers, accountants, attorneys
hell even formed an LLC in
just eight months,
Anthony made over $7 million.
He bought this house Mercedes.
His coworkers bought Lamborghinis
all from FIFA coins.
But the money hadn't come that easy.
Well, at first
the FIFA game had no security.
They now had it in CAPTCHAs
to prevent the bots
that they were now using.
But again,
no problem,
they just developed
bots to do the CAPTCHAs.
But the real question
was, was this even legal?
Now the coins weren't stolen
or hacked from FIFA.
It was just a bot
that played
hundreds of games a second, you know,
to get beat the coins that again,
couldn't be bought.
I mean, in their own terms.
The service says the coins have no value,
mainly for tax reasons.
So how could it be fraud?
Now, months after the raid
of others in the crew,
David received the message from Arman,
the cyber, with an opportunity.
Now, Arman
had stolen a real Durango
from Microsoft's headquarters.
He had a family friend that worked there
and Arman cloned his employee
badge and just dressed up
like a dork
and walked in their headquarters
and just took it.
And he told Dave that it was so easy
that he'd be willing to do it again
to get David his own Durango in exchange,
of course, for a couple of grand
now to ME....this guy
Seems like a total Fed (Undercover Federal Agent)
But to David,
it seemed like a great idea.
So he went through with it.
So wearing his Bill
Gates, deluxe uniform
and his fake badge, Arman gets in.
Now, he had heard
the Durangos were on the fifth floor,
but his badge didn't have that
security clearance to get in there.
So, you know, at America's
most technologically
advanced company on Earth,
he bypasses all of their security
by taking the stairs,
And he shoves two durangos,
in his backpack..
walks out like nothing ever happened.
Bam, bam, bam, mission accomplished.
Yeah. The next week,
Arman gets a call from Microsoft
headquarters.
They wanted him
to come down to their offices
to have a little chat with them
because Arman...had gotten HIRED there..
And that's
when he remembered, Oh, my God,
I put in my job application last month.
So David's got a Durango,
Armand's got a new job,
and they lived happily ever.
It was actually
All a trap to bring Arman
in Microsoft's interrogation room.
They had it all on cameras,
and Arman confesses to everything.
Now they tell Arman
that Microsoft
would not press any charges
if he could just bring the Durango’s back
or else things would get nasty.
Armand calls David freaking out, saying,
How F****ed they would it be
if they didn't get these Durango’s back
He’ll give him all
his money, Just send the Durango back.
Anything...... but David just stops
picking up his calls
because this was their Arman's problem,
not his
pulling up to the U.S.
border.
David and his father told Customs
that they were just driving
to the US to run real quick Errand...
But after just one
glance of David's face,
they asked him to get out of the car
and they put him in handcuffs.
And they tell us, Dad,
that David would not be coming home
for a very long time.
For the last eight months,
the FBI had a secret
indictment listing David Pokora
as the first foreign hacker to be charged
criminally in the United States.
Why?
Stealing over
$100 million in American trade secrets
now, along with David was Sanad,
Austin Acala...
and Nathan Leroux were
all arrested and charged
as coconspirators.
Now all four would plead guilty
to stealing over $100 million
in trade secrets
with Nathan, Sanad and David
all getting prison time
except for Austin.
Because
The FBI had found something
very interesting on his computer.
Now, while Anthony Clark had been David's
business partner in the past,
he never got caught up in this case.
He didn't steal games.
He just mined FIFA coins.
But when the FBI found evidence
on Austin Acala’s
computer of this FIFA
coin mining operation
that made millions of dollars.
Yeah, that's who they went after next.
On September
2015, Anthony Clark
and his three employees
who were separate from
the group were raided
from the IRS,
where they seized over
$4 million in assets
because Anthony had little business.
Yeah, that it made him over
$18 million in a couple of years.
But the problem started
when he was withdrawing up
to $30,000 a day from his 13
personal bank accounts
because those glitched FIFA for coins
he made....While he did sell them to China
and hell
even paid his taxes on them...
the government said
it was all wire fraud.
Now Anthony's
three partners
who also made millions from this,
did a plea deal
to give up all of the money
they made in exchange
for absolutely no jail time.
Because, you know,
if the FBI brings a case against you,
there's a 99% chance
that they're going to win.
But Anthony truly felt he was innocent.
His attorneys
thought they could win a case at trial
because, again, these FIFA coins
couldn't be bought from EA..
He didn't hack in.
He didn't steal the coins.
So how could you commit wire fraud
for something that's free?
But when the prosecutor said it,
If this was not money nor property
they were obtaining,
then what are they getting paid
$16 million for?
That's when the jury found
Anthony Clark guilty of conspiracy
to commit wire fraud.
So pleading
innocent to
22 charges, Dylan Wheeler had 48 hours
to hand in his passport
to the Australian police,
but instead his mom
just drives him to the airport.
And then he hops on a flight
and he leaves the country to the Czech
Republic,
all because Dylan had dual
citizenship there
and he couldn't be extradited back.
He was now a free man
now instead of
just laying low
as a fugitive on the run, Dylan
does interviews with the news.
To be honest,
it's quite scary that I was able to leave
to leave on my Australian passport
because they have a system
that they use that border control.
Find out
if you're criminal, if you're
if you're trying to leave the country.
And they will flag you.
Normally....
Australia would arrest his mom after
he said that and even sentenced HER
to two years in prison
because technically, you know,
she was harboring a fugitive
when she drove to the airport.
Now, Dylan Wheeler's
alone in the Czech Republic.
His mom's locked up. He's got no money.
So he gets a job at a cybersecurity firm
that specializes in banks.
Dylan did an interview saying
he's a reformed character.
He's a good boy now.
But a week later,
customers at these banks begin
complaining that
hundreds of thousands of dollars
were getting transferred onto the debit
card of an Australian citizen.
Who could that be?
Oh, Dylan Wheeler.
So the Czech police raid his apartment
and they find he's
counterfeiting money now,
so he pleads guilty in the Czech Republic
and then he only gets probation
and then he flees off to England.
Now, while in England,
he starts his own cybersecurity
firm called Day After Exploit.
You know, he's
given interviews, he's
doing security conference presentations.
But then in October of 2020,
his business dissolves,
his Twitter shuts down,
he deactivates his website.
There is not a trace of him
past October 2020.
So we got a hold of one
of Dylan's old coworkers
and they said he had left.
England was actually living in Poland,
but not for what you think,
because there
he had decided
to rob a Polish bank
with two random dudes
he just met at a bar.
But then the whole thing was caught
on hidden camera.
So the next day, Dylan
Wheeler's arrested,
and today
he sits in a Polish prison
with a ten year sentence
for robbing a bank.
Now, the week before his
sentencing out on bail,
Anthony was out for his birthday
and he partied so hard with his friends.
And after that
final round of shots,
hugging all of his friends, goodbye,
Anthony went to bed knowing
that his friends
and family really did have his back.
But sadly, he would wake up the next day.
His mom found him not breathing.
The coroner would rule
an accidental drug overdose
from mixing the Vicodin and the alcohol.
There was no note left behind.
He never talked
about doing this on purpose.
It was all an accident.
He had so much to offer to the world
from such a young age.
He was such a talented programmer
and the to see it all be ended like this.
It's really a tragic story.
But for the others, like David, Sanad
and Austin Acala today,
they have thriving careers
as programmers, cryptographers.
Some even have families of their own.
And while I did contact them
for their side of this story, all of them
refused to comment
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