Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

[Shawn Zipay]

I wasn't initially going to report on this since it does deal with a rather well known game cheat community, but since it's already making the rounds elsewhere I figured "why the hell not."

Yesterday a user on the Artificial Aiming forums, anonpbspoofer, created a thread that details how he is once again targeting random, legitimate players and pegging them with PunkBuster bans. This is apparently the third time that this person or group of persons has done this, this time "banning real players from Battlelog" and have selected GGC-Stream enabled servers as their primary target.

From my understanding, GGC-Stream works similar to PBBans Streaming service. IE: Banned from one server with GGC-Stream and you're banned from all of them.

"We have selected ggc-stream as the target since they have the most streaming bf3 servers and makes it very easy to add fake bans. In 2011 we hit them with a mass ban wave and now were are banning real players from battlelog while ggc-stream is totally unaware. We have framed 150+ bf3 players alone."

This was just from the initial post. Since then, numerous threads and posts have cropped up on the official Battlelog forums and on Reddit, just to name a couple. Users are crying fowl claiming that the wrongful bans are "immoral" and most calling for immediate action from DICE, EA, GGC-Stream, and Even Balance.

Ban appeals from most normal players have largely been denied across the board from these false bans. However, admins of the ESL have also been banned, as you can see in the image above, and have had their bans being removed quite quickly.

A member of the Artificial Aiming community stated that these attacks have "nothing to do with AA. The person who posted the first link is a junior member here." Simply put, this is someone not directly associated with the AA community and is acting on their own accord.

For whatever it's worth, EA is has mentioned that they are aware of the issue and are looking into it.

[nemes1s3000]

This is too damn funny, I am actually laughing my ass off over here.

[KINGDarkyDizzle]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

It truly sucks for those who have gotten banned, but I find it hilarious. Maybe EA will realize they need to step up their game a bit. Stuff like this should not be allowed to happen.

[Shawn Zipay]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

It truly sucks for those who have gotten banned, but I find it hilarious. Maybe EA will realize they need to step up their game a bit. Stuff like this should not be allowed to happen.

How is this really EA's problem? It seems like a fundamental flaw mainly in GGC-Stream and Punkbuster to a lesser degree.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

What is EA going to do about it? They dont control the servers. They dont control Punkbuster. They dont control GGC where the exploit seems to be coming from. The only thing EA controls is what it uses for anti-cheat, which the choices are Punkbuster, VAC, or their own thing which they dont have in place.

If this is a punkbuster exploit, then punkbuster needs to deal with this, however, it sound slike GGC has some type of security vulnerability to where they are able to have fake data sent to them that seems legit.

Too bad no one wants to work out the logistics of using encryption on these things.

[*FMJ*Power]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

What is EA going to do about it? They dont control the servers. They dont control Punkbuster. They dont control GGC where the exploit seems to be coming from. The only thing EA controls is what it uses for anti-cheat, which the choices are Punkbuster, VAC, or their own thing which they dont have in place.

If this is a punkbuster exploit, then punkbuster needs to deal with this, however, it sound slike GGC has some type of security vulnerability to where they are able to have fake data sent to them that seems legit.

Too bad no one wants to work out the logistics of using encryption on these things.

It all stems from the fact that "anyone" can set up a server to stream at GGC is seconds, there are no checks done to make sure it is hosted at a data center or from a RSP, this is the loophole they used and why they cant stream bans for evenbalance or PBBANS, just GGC, they set up cracked servers from home to target GGC.

The real punkbuster loophole connected with this issue was discovered in 08, they used it once to stream a bunch of fake bans to PBBAN but punkbuster never fixed it, just made sure PBBANs started assuring all streaming servers are located in data centers and checks are done to make sure they are legit. They still have not truly "fixed" the loophole in the PB code discovered 4 years ago, just stuck a band-aid on it..........punkbuster is like a crumbling house of cards; and it's getting windy........the entire system needs to be rebuilt.

GGC also just closed another HUGE loophole the day before these fake bans rolled in, anyone could retrieve a players entire 32 digit GUID with just a soldier name search. Just a FYI, Game tracker still has this loophole and have announced they have no plans of fixing it, anyone can pull pbscreenshots with full GUID's from any server that has their PB screenshots set up with gametracker.

The GUID's they streamed for bans today were totally fake, they aren't legit GUIDS, only names. They can GUID spoof and can get you banned but only from GGC streaming servers, they aren't PB or EB bans and the GGC admins now have a script in place to clean out fake bans as fast as they roll in.

Someone over at BL and reddit performed the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater this morning about the PB kicking problems being related to the fake bans and it spread like wildfire. The fake bans have been happening for a few days now, GGC claims to have a on going police investigation regarding the attacks, or so their moderators claim in the private streaming admin forum.

These fake bans actually started coming in 4 days ago, they have just been cleaning them up pretty fast over at GGC, we stream both our servers there so I've been on top of this one, I had to turn off our GGC ban message stream because for while it was just advertising for hack sites!

If anything hopefully this fiasco today, as blown out of proportion as it was; by getting picked up by more than few large gaming sites might light a fire EA's butt to finally get on top of this hack issue, for the life of me I cant understand why they haven't gone after AA for lost revenue or for fuks sake, at-least shut down the BF3 server they use to sell hacks from.

http://www.pbbans.com/forums/streaming-security-t155655.html

[Stev0esque]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

^ The sad thing is there is only one deck of cards. And no one has thought to build a stronger tower... We are stuck with the damn thing as no one has stepped up to do a better job yet. VAC wouldn't be a solution as it relies heavily on Server Admining. Which is ofcourse, varying from game to game.

[Vreki]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

The GUID's they streamed for bans today were totally fake, they aren't legit GUIDS, only names. They can GUID spoof and can get you banned but only from GGC streaming servers, they aren't PB or EB bans and the GGC admins now have a script in place to clean out fake bans as fast as they roll in.

If they only affect GGC members, then they should have no effect on EA accounts, right?
Do a real PB ban even cause a forum ban? As I recall it the complaints were about the opposite, that a forum ban caused you to lose access to your games.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

It all stems from the fact that "anyone" can set up a server to stream at GGC is seconds, there are no checks done to make sure it is hosted at a data center or from a RSP, this is the loophole they used and why they cant stream bans for evenbalance or PBBANS, just GGC, they set up cracked servers from home to target GGC.

The real punkbuster loophole connected with this issue was discovered in 08, they used it once to stream a bunch of fake bans to PBBAN but punkbuster never fixed it, just made sure PBBANs started assuring all streaming servers are located in data centers and checks are done to make sure they are legit. They still have not truly "fixed" the loophole in the PB code discovered 4 years ago, just stuck a band-aid on it..........punkbuster is like a crumbling house of cards; and it's getting windy........the entire system needs to be rebuilt.

GGC also just closed another HUGE loophole the day before these fake bans rolled in, anyone could retrieve a players entire 32 digit GUID with just a soldier name search. Just a FYI, Game tracker still has this loophole and have announced they have no plans of fixing it, anyone can pull pbscreenshots with full GUID's from any server that has their PB screenshots set up with gametracker.

The GUID's they streamed for bans today were totally fake, they aren't legit GUIDS, only names. They can GUID spoof and can get you banned but only from GGC streaming servers, they aren't PB or EB bans and the GGC admins now have a script in place to clean out fake bans as fast as they roll in.

Someone over at BL and reddit performed the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater this morning about the PB kicking problems being related to the fake bans and it spread like wildfire. The fake bans have been happening for a few days now, GGC claims to have a on going police investigation regarding the attacks, or so their moderators claim in the private streaming admin forum.

These fake bans actually started coming in 4 days ago, they have just been cleaning them up pretty fast over at GGC, we stream both our servers there so I've been on top of this one, I had to turn off our GGC ban message stream because for while it was just advertising for hack sites!

If anything hopefully this fiasco today, as blown out of proportion as it was; by getting picked up by more than few large gaming sites might light a fire EA's butt to finally get on top of this hack issue, for the life of me I cant understand why they haven't gone after AA for lost revenue or for fuks sake, at-least shut down the BF3 server they use to sell hacks from.

http://www.pbbans.com/forums/streami...y-t155655.html

Exactly, nothing to do with EA other then the fact the chose one of two options for anti-cheat. Punkbuster was made aware of this potential issue back in 2008 and they did NOTHING about it. I remember when it was found out and PBBans put a number of checks and balances up, but theyre actual choice was to close their doors. They later changed their minds due to the outcry of the community to stick it out til the end. Which I am glad they made that choice.

Its time for another anti-hack revolution. Punkbuster has made it clear they have no intentions to update their software unless pressured by publishers. 2008 was when this was found out. BF3 is the first DX10/11 game they altered so their screenshots would work with it. They still dont have any encryption. They still dont have any memory protection. They still dont have secure checks and balance between their servers and who is collecting the data.

The problem we face today though is that the numbers are on the console side now, so who cares? Right?

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

If they only affect GGC members, then they should have no effect on EA accounts, right?
Do a real PB ban even cause a forum ban? As I recall it the complaints were about the opposite, that a forum ban caused you to lose access to your games.

Yeah, you can still play Battlefield 3,just not on a ranked server because your banned. Not to mention now your screenname is tarnished, though you didnt do anything.

[jimykx]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

What does someone who has been wrongfully banned do?

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

What does someone who has been wrongfully banned do?

All you can do is file an appeal to get unbanned. Ive never gone through it, but Ive read others going through it and basically you are guilty until proven innocent and unless you record everything you do while gaming, its hard to prove anything. I think punkbuster actually works with you to try to find out if you did it, but it takes a lot of time.

I had my GUID spoofed in BF2 and my stats were wiped by EA and the first time I appealed they said I did it and thats that. 2 years later I appealed again after more information surfaced that it could be done and they gave me my rank and unlocks back, but they could not recover all my stats and awards and all that.

I didnt mind too much because it was at the end of BF2, but when I did play BF2 again and did well, a few admins look at my stats and see that its way wrong and so I get banned for hacking by them. Im also on a bad list that people use for stat padding with no way of removing myself from it.

Going back to what Power Posted; I should have mentioned also that anyone streaming to GGC need to move on from them until they put more checks in place to validate where their PB information is coming from. An admin using GGC is putting everyone who plays on their server at risk of this.

[*FMJ*Power]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

Exactly, nothing to do with EA other then the fact the chose one of two options for anti-cheat. Punkbuster was made aware of this potential issue back in 2008 and they did NOTHING about it. I remember when it was found out and PBBans put a number of checks and balances up, but theyre actual choice was to close their doors. They later changed their minds due to the outcry of the community to stick it out til the end. Which I am glad they made that choice.

Its time for another anti-hack revolution. Punkbuster has made it clear they have no intentions to update their software unless pressured by publishers. 2008 was when this was found out. BF3 is the first DX10/11 game they altered so their screenshots would work with it. They still dont have any encryption. They still dont have any memory protection. They still dont have secure checks and balance between their servers and who is collecting the data.

The problem we face today though is that the numbers are on the console side now, so who cares? Right?

They still haven't "really" even gotten screenshots to work......well over 50% of the PB screenshots our servers takes are black, PB says it's a driver issue, meaning if the user is using the correct combo of video drivers or multiple GPU's they can never have a full PB screenshot taken of them!

The pbscreenshot feature just plaint doesn't work with this game, that's why so many hacks make it through, I would not call a 50% success rate functional.

Punkbuster is like barnes and noble and amazon is smashing down the door, adapt or die is what it's gonna come down to and i dont think PB has any interest in adapting, they are too busy digging their own grave. EA might actually have to spend a few dollars and finally develop their own anticheat team and software that isn't based on 12 year old code, they have been using the bandaid that is punkbuster for way to long now, I'm at the point where i would pay 2x as much for a game if I knew the anti cheat was going to work. You would of thought EA might of learned a lesson from Crysis 2........................

Yeah, you can still play Battlefield 3,just not on a ranked server because your banned. Not to mention now your screenname is tarnished, though you didnt do anything.

Only on servers that are streaming to GGC, they can still play on all other servers but it looks like GGC has cleared all the fake bans already, they are right on top of that and to be honest GGC is doing something better than PB because they are catching way more true hackers than PBANs, by true i mean when parsing through the players stats it's clearly evident they are hacking. It's not worth totally dumping them over but they sure need to get their shit together and start doing checks on where servers are located.

[CptainCrunch]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

Thanks Power, I wasnt even aware that the ONE thing PB said they were doing is still not working. So add that to the list.

Punkbuster has the tools to be good, they were in the past, but they have to update and harden themselves a little bit and its just not happening.

I agree with you, its very obvious the stuff isnt working like it once did. Nothing is perfect and I get that, but if it is failing on its own standards it created, then it needs to change.

[Anarchy1]

Re: Wrongfully Banned from Battlefield 3? This May be the Reason Why

PB screenshots are futile anyway. 95% of all hacks, including public ones, have some sort of screenshot faker.