A Star Wars Galaxies community server was allegedly hacked with AI assistance by a Reddit moderator harboring a primeval grudge
(Image credit: LucasArts)
Star Wars Galaxies Legends, one of many community servers offering a version of the defunct MMO with custom additions, reportedly had its assets decrypted by a hacker with the username levarrishawk (via Massively OP). In a post on the Star Wars Galaxies subreddit, Levarris confirmed the details of a Discord post shared by the server's development team.
"[W]e’ve confirmed that Levarris, aka levarrishawk from r/swg, used AI tools to decrypt our client side game asset files," the Discord post reads. "This gave him access to assets from all of our custom content: items, questlines … We do know that he’s actively offered these files to other servers, and while we can’t confirm that he’s had any takers yet, if you start seeing Legends‑exclusive content out in other worlds it was likely taken from us.
"We’re obviously bothered by this, but there isn’t much we can do outside of being upfront with all of you and staying focused on what makes Legends great."
Notably, no player data or personal info was accessed. The response from Levarris, who is a moderator for the Star Wars Galaxies subreddit, reveals the motivation behind this hack: some drama that goes back "roughly fourteen years ago."
Levarris claims that some folks who'd eventually work on Legends used a "honeypot" scheme to acquire dev tools that Sony Online Entertainment used when working on the live game, and then didn't share those tools with other community devs trying to revive it. "You don't get to protect and hoard from the greater community things built on stolen goods," Levarris wrote.
The subreddit didn't seem impressed with the stunt nor the rationale behind it. "I’m just trying to play around with a lightsaber after working 60 hours in a week," commented iceman2kx. "A moderator of the Star Wars Galaxies subreddit has decided to actively harm the Star Wars Galaxies community at large. Cool. Cool and good," BroReesta wrote on the same thread.
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Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...
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