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Team Fortress 2 / CS:GO Code Leak

Team Fortress 2 / CS:GO Code Leak

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Updated Apr 26, 2020 at 02:36AM EDT by Y F.

Added Apr 23, 2020 at 09:12AM EDT by Philipp.

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Overview

Team Fortress 2 / CS:GO Source Leak refers to a source code leak from Valve video games Team Fortress 2 and Counter Strike: Global Offensive" that occurred on April 22, 2020.

Background

On April 22nd, 2020, an anonymous 4chan's /v/ user posted leaked source code for Valve video games Counter Strike: Global Offensive and Team Fortress 2 was leaked.[1] The source code versions were Operation Hydra update for CS:GO, released in 2017, and Jungle Inferno update for Team Fortress 2, released the same year (censored post shown below).


O Source code to CS:GO and TF2 torrent Anonymous 04/22/20(Wed)08:12:53 No.504555958 E ► >>504556601 >>504556652 >>504556765 >>504556891 >>504556964 >>504557268 >>504558030 >>504558156 >>504559059 >>504559121 >>504559507 >>504560768 >>504561487 >>504561974 >>504563074 >>504565185 >>504565237 >>504566229 >>504566606 >>504567324 >>504567908 >>504568545 >>504568624 >>504572364 A couple valve-community related items relating to leaks that have happened in the past and a unreleased source mod are contained inside this torrent. CSGO source code as of Operation Hydra and TF2 code as of Jungle Inferno are inside. Release purpose is to further the interests of those that want to garner possible use out of these files, rather than them sitting on a dying harddrive. Different methods of downloading will follow. ntihtinml lli.lt

The leak also contained screenshots of an October 2016 conversation between Valve News Network creator Tyler McVicker and another person. On the same day, McVicker denied[2][3] any connection to the leak and stated that the leaked code appeared to be a repetition of a previous leak that occurred in 2018 but was contained (tweets shown below).


Tyler McVicker @ValveNewsNetwor This is in response to a recent leak of materials on 4chan. I would like to clear some things up regarding these. I did not leak anything. I will be submitting all the evidence I have on the SrcCode leak to Valves legal department. O Garry Newman @garrynewman · Apr 22 @ValveNewsNetwor how's things? 10:55 AM · Apr 22, 2020 · Twitter Web App Tyler McVicker @ValveNewsNetwor 23h Replying to @ValveNewsNetwor The Code that has leaked today originally leaked back in late 2018, which I was aware of, and contacted Valve to warn them about. 27 24 485 Tyler McVicker @ValveNewsNetwor 23h There were also some private chat logs between myself and an unverified source from Oct of 2016 leaked, likely done to make it seem that the two are related. I want to make this clear. I did not provide any of the code materials to the person who leaked then. 2 27 22 445 Tyler McVicker @ValveNewsNetwor · 23h To reiterate; I never had access to the leaked code, nor was I the source of said code. The code was received from a contained leak from two years ago. 27 28 548 Tyler McVicker @ValveNewsNetwor · 23h If you have any questions about the events of this morning, feel free to contact me through Twitter DMs, as I have them open. I apologize for the inconvenience of today. O 12 27 16 466

Developments

On April 22nd, 2020, Team Fortress 2 creators community Creators.TF announced[4] that they are temporarily shutting their servers due to "the uncertainty surrounding security to our infrastructure as well as your computer."

Later on the same day, Valve[5] announced that they reviewed the leaked code and concluded that no danger to the players was present through the official Counter Strike: Global Offensive Twitter account. On April 23rd, 2020, a similar announcement was made through the official Team Fortress 2 Twitter[6] account.


CS:GO @CSGO We have reviewed the leaked code and believe it to be a reposting of a limited CS:GO engine code depot released to partners in late 2017, and originally leaked in 2018. From this review, we have not found any reason for players to be alarmed or avoid the current builds. 5:37 PM · Apr 22, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone 5.8K Retweets 33.1K Likes CS:GO @CSGO · 17h Replying to @CSGO As always, playing on the official servers is recommended for greatest security. 27 364 7.7K 98 CS:GO @CSGO · 17h We will continue to investigate the situation and will update news outlets and players if we find anything to prove otherwise. In the meantime, if anyone has more information about the leak, the Valve security page (next tweet) describes how best to report that information. O 75 t7 444 7.5K Team Fortress 2 @TeamFortress Regarding today's reported leak of code, specifically as it pertains to TF2: This also appears to be related to code depots released to partners in late 2017, and originally leaked in 2018. 12:58 AM · Apr 23, 2020 - Twitter Web App 2.7K Retweets 12.4K Likes Team Fortress 2 @TeamFortress · 9h Replying to @TeamFortress From our review, we have not found any reason for TF2 players to be alarmed or avoid the current builds (as always, playing on the official servers is recommended for greatest security). 27 700 68 4.5K Team Fortress 2 @TeamFortress · 9h We will continue to investigate the situation and will update news outlets and players if we find anything to prove otherwise. In the meantime, if anyone has more information about the leak, the Valve security page (next tweet) describes how best to report that information. 32 t7 331 4K

Online Reactions

The leak prompted the spread of memes in which Team Fortress 2 and CS:GO players imagined the games being hacked and malware being spread through them, with the memes often using various malware clichés. For example, on April 22nd, 2020, Twitter[7] user @stephanielgbt posted an edited image of a Team Fortress 2 alert featuring Tyler, the Creator Mugshot (shown below, left), with the image gaining spread as a meme format on in TF2 communities such as TF2 Shitposting[8], /r/tf2[9] and /r/okbuddyfortress (examples shown below).[10]


26 O 1:26 5 ponte Beat RED's titein ALERT *DEAD Spicy SpicewBringBackoldit2: f------ ContractFloppy: g9 markchrome98 : DOP IT CLOSE 150 me using the tf2 source code to send all pyro mains to hell 26 O 1:26 5 ponte Beat RED's titein ALERT SONIC IS HACKING YOUR COMPUTER *DEAD Spicy SpiceBringbackoldi12: f------ ContractFloppy: g9 markchrome98 : DOP IT W-- 150
124 & 1:26 5 pente ककन| ALERT SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG IS A BITCH-ASS M-----------, HE P----- ON MY F------ WIFE. THAT'S RIGHT, HE TOOK HIS HEDGEHOG LITTLE QUILLY D--- OUT AND HE P----- ON MY WIFE. AND HE SAID IT WAS 'THIS BIG AND I SAID "THAT'S DISGUSTING. SaySaritakoa te mart CLOSE ConNOHARGES O GUYS WHATEVER YOU DO DO NOT PLAY TF2/CSGO ON APRIL WENSDAY, 22, 2020 JENKIN D Coal Co WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE!!! INTRUDER ALERT RED HACKER IN SERVERS

Search Interest

External References

[1] 4chan – /v/ Thread #504555958

[2] Twitter – @ValveNewsNetwor

[3] Twitter – @ValveNewsNetwor

[4] Creators.tf – Creators.TF Blog

[5] Twitter – @CSGO

[6] Twitter – @TeamFortress

[7] Twitter – @stephanielgbt

[8] Facebook – TF2 Shitposting

[9] Reddit – Valve what is this?

[10] Reddit – OMG SONIC NOOOOOOOO11!!111

Related Entries 12 total

Recent Videos 4 total

Recent Images 21 total


Top Comments

hankkits
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hankkits

in reply to Nue7ra1

Under advise from Steam.

He didn't get the source code illegally. He was developing a game using Source which gives a legal license to access the source code, an ex-developer in his team went off the rails and leaked it.

It could have happened to plenty of other development team. Even Steams lawyers agreed that Tyler wasn't at fault. I know it's awful to have noone to blame but as they say: Shit happens.

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