Glider Ban Wave, the second!

[Blaze]

First wave was November 11th, 2006.

Today was the second wave, June 11th, 2007.

So basically 90% of the Gliding population got hit in the face with the ban hammer.  They even hit the EU servers, something they've never done. 

http://vforums.mmoglider.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22  If you want to read all the tears.

[Sidoh]

Wow. :-|

[Newby]

Go Blizzard! Get those fags!

[Sidoh]

Go Blizzard! Get those fags!

Glider is pretty awesome.

[Joe]

Missed me.

[iago]

I want to write a blog about this. Does somebody want to tell me how Glider works (is it a plugin?) and its relationship to in-game spam (smog:) )? As in, can it be used to send spam messages, and is it typically used by spammers (for farming and stuff)?

[AntiVirus]

Lol!   I wish I had a level 70, but I don't think I would risk getting my account banned.

[Furious]

I want to write a blog about this. Does somebody want to tell me how Glider works (is it a plugin?) and its relationship to in-game spam (smog:) )? As in, can it be used to send spam messages, and is it typically used by spammers (for farming and stuff)?

http://www.mmoglider.com

Not a plugin, it's a program that plays the game for you.  I doubt spammers use it, they'd probably use something more along the lines of an actual bot for that - but I mean, with very simple macros you can spam anywhere.

Easy macro ex:

/1 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/2 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/3 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/4 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!

And all you have do is click a little icon on your action bar and it sends the message(s).  I'll edit this later and go into more detail, I've been up for almost two days straight now   

General
  Q:    Are you affiliated with Blizzard?
A:    No. Glider is third-party software sold by MDY Industries, LLC. We are not affiliated in any way with Blizzard Entertainment or Vivendi.
 
  Q:    How does Glider work?
A:    Glider works a lot like a regular player. It looks at your health, mana, energy, etc. It moves the mouse around and pushes keys on the keyboard. You tell it about your character, where you want to kill things, and what to kill. Then it kills for you, automatically. You can do something else, like eat dinner or go to a movie, and when you return, you'll have a lot more experience and loot.
 
Q:    Can I cheat with Glider? Is it a hack?
A:    No. It will not show you things that you cannot normally see in the game and it does not control the game other than keystrokes and mouse movements. It's not a teleport hack, speed hack, minimap hack, or anything along those lines.
 
Q:    Is using Glider cause for suspension/ban? *
A:    Yes, Glider is against the Terms of Service as provided by Blizzard for World of Warcraft. If you are detected using Glider, your account will be suspended for 72 hours and very likely banned completely. While Glider does not violate any of the terms listed under Blizzard's "Client/Server Manipulation Policy", it is still a third-party program and their Terms of Service are very open in what falls under that definition, meaning they can find you in violation for pretty much anything they want.

Glider provides a number of features to help lower the risk of detection - for more information, see the next topic.

Bottom line: use at your own risk.

 
Q:    Is Glider detectable? *
A:    There are two methods of detection for Glider or any other third-party tool:

1) The game itself detects the software by searching memory, your hard drive, window titles, or some other means. The current version of Glider (1.2.6 Mar 9, 2007) is not known to be detected by these methods. However, it is technically possible for Blizzard to change their detection scheme, if they come up with a new way to detect Glider. This risk cannot be avoided, as the game client can update any time. You can help lower your risk by following the suggested settings as posted in the Announcements forum and upgrading to Glider Elite to provide better control of and reaction to changes in the game's detection software.

2) You can also be detected by a human observing you and noting repeated patrols, robotic behavior, etc. This can largely be avoided by always staying near your computer while gliding. Glider also has a number of features built-in, such as detection of whispers or other players following you. Be careful to avoid areas with lots of obstructions and follow the tips in the help file when setting up profiles.

Unattended automated play is always risky and should not be done in busy areas for a long time.
 
Q:    Is Glider easy to set up?
A:    Pretty simple. Create a folder, download the launchpad, run it. The rest is done automatically.

In order for it to work properly, you have to configure two action bars in the game (5 and 6) with shortcuts to the different spells and skills it wants to use. Each class has a section in the help file with explanation of its options and the action bars, so getting it up and running takes mere minutes.
 
Q:    Does Glider modify my game files?
A:    Definitely not. Glider does not use a UI mod or make any changes to the game, either on disk or in memory.
 
Q:    Doesn't it defeat the purpose of the game?
A:    If you use it to bypass content, definitely. World of Warcraft is a great game and you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice to skip the various quests and instances and new areas as you level a character up to 60. If you want to start out the game at 60, just buy an account or talk to someone who can convince you not to. Skipping the biggest and best part of the game design is just silly.

Glider is intended for people who want to quickly level up an alternate character or glide through the last few levels to 60. Best priest just quit your guild, but got no good recruits? Want to find out if you should have picked a mage instead of a warlock, but don't want to spend all that hard the game time again? Want to get some rogue-riffic revenge on those guys sneaking up on you in Battlegrounds? Those are the problems that the Glider solves.

Using Glider with an alternate character is particularly effective, because you can supply the character with the money needed for the food/water/supplies that Glider will most definitely use up.
 
Q:    How much does it cost?
A:    By default, Glider runs in a demonstration mode. While in demo mode, it will stop automatic play after a few minutes, requiring you to restart Glider if you want to evaluate it further. Aside from that limit, the demo is fully functional, so we recommend you try it out before registering to make sure you're happy with it.

You can register Glider and instantly get a product key for $25, payable via PayPal. Once you have a product key, it will work with all future versions of Glider to support new patches of the game and new features that are added to Glider itself. Glider checks for updates on startup and notifies you when a new version is available for download.

Note that the product key is used during the startup process for Glider to request memory locations of game information. If you share your product key and we receive too many requests from it, it will be locked out.

Optionally, you can upgrade to Glider Elite to get extra features, such as background operation and additional protection from game detection software. Glider Elite is a subscription service for $5 per month and can also be purchased in 3-month or 6-month blocks without subscription at a discount.
 
Q:    Can I run Glider on a private or emulated server?
A:    Running Glider on non-Blizzard servers is unsupported, as the client on such servers is generally confused, old, or both. We strongly recommend running Glider on official, paid servers.
 
Q:    Is this really a Glider key?
A:    If you recently purchased Glider, you may have received a key in the new style of 0X-XXXXX-XXXXX, including both letters and numbers. Since our keys used to be a simple 12-digit number, these may look new to you. Going forward, all keys will end up using the new format.
 
Gameplay
Q:    How does Glider actually find and kill things?
A:    You show Glider the area you want to clear by marking waypoints in the game. You go to a spot, click the "Add Waypoint" button (or Previous Track on your keyboard). Then you go to the next spot, do it again, until you form a circle. You can also specify minimum/maximum levels of monsters to target as well as factions, which are like monster "teams".

All that information is a "profile", which you can load and save (and share). You start up Glider, load the profile, and it runs through the area, clearing it out again and again. The actual mechanics for pulling and combat are specific to each class, so check the help file for your class.

And another link to the FAQ:

http://www.mmoglider.com/FAQ.aspx#P1

[iago]

Not a plugin, it's a program that plays the game for you.  I doubt spammers use it, they'd probably use something more along the lines of an actual bot for that - but I mean, with very simple macros you can spam anywhere.

Easy macro ex:

/1 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/2 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/3 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/4 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!

And all you have do is click a little icon on your action bar and it sends the message(s).  I'll edit this later and go into more detail, I've been up for almost two days straight now   

The thing is, spammers aren't going to want to do all that manually, the idea is to automate it. Are there any actual bots? I thought Warden was doing a good job preventing them?

And what about getting the gold that spammers sell? And powerleveling? I imagine that could be done through WoWGlider, correct?

[Warrior]

Not a plugin, it's a program that plays the game for you.  I doubt spammers use it, they'd probably use something more along the lines of an actual bot for that - but I mean, with very simple macros you can spam anywhere.

Easy macro ex:

/1 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/2 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/3 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!
/4 HEAD TO WOWXXX.COM TO BUY GOLD!

And all you have do is click a little icon on your action bar and it sends the message(s).  I'll edit this later and go into more detail, I've been up for almost two days straight now   

The thing is, spammers aren't going to want to do all that manually, the idea is to automate it. Are there any actual bots? I thought Warden was doing a good job preventing them?

And what about getting the gold that spammers sell? And powerleveling? I imagine that could be done through WoWGlider, correct?

It wouldn't be to hard to write a program to manifest itself in the client and hook key calls (much like WoWGlider). This would automate Macro sending. All they really did was send messages to everyone on the server or in a zone simultaneously.

There is however, no doubt that they use Bots. How exactly they circumvent Warden if they take this route, I'm not sure. Things like mass spamming in game mail and being invited to a Party full of Bots to be spammed can't be automated (Easily).

As for the WoWGlider for Gold/PL. It's not that widely used due to the fact that Warden is always detecting it, and it's just basically a cat and mouse game. This banwave shows how unreliable such means can be, and would cause a gold/pl company to lose a lot of money.

What they have been found to do is pay people in other countries very low wages to kill mobs for gold and to power level characters for people.

[Furious]

MMOGlider actually detects Warden updates and closes itself down if it sees the update as a risk.  Glider also has many features in it that can help greatly reduce chances of detection - do people use them, not enough.  People who glide in high population areas, or in areas known to GMs or players as a popular botting zone will be flagged and observed which contributes to a good amount of the bans.

[Joe]

Glider is a lot like x86-loader. It makes it so WoW is running as a limited user and isn't allowed to see Glider, then calls some APIs to simulate keystrokes and mouse clicks in the game, as if a real user were clicking and typing.

[iago]

That's not like x86-loader at all. But thanks for coming!

[Sidoh]

I've had a pretty good amount of experience using glider.  I'm not entirely familiar with all of the security measures it takes (no one here is, I'd wager.  the details and algorithms the creator uses are kept somewhat secret for good reason), but I can try to explain whatever it is you need to know.

[Warrior]

I wonder..what if you run WoW in a sandboxed environment and the hack (Glider in this case) outside the sandbox?
If Warden just theoretically scans Process Lists/Window Titles wouldn't this problem be effectively fixed?

[iago]

Well, I wrote a blog about this which should publish tomorrow or Thursday, and I tiptoes around the issues that I didn't understand. I wonder what PR will say...

[Newby]

I wonder..what if you run WoW in a sandboxed environment and the hack (Glider in this case) outside the sandbox?
If Warden just theoretically scans Process Lists/Window Titles wouldn't this problem be effectively fixed?

Yeah... I thought about this. I forget why I stopped caring though.

[Blaze]

Well, I wrote a blog about this which should publish tomorrow or Thursday, and I tiptoes around the issues that I didn't understand. I wonder what PR will say...

You should have sent a copy our way so you could get feedback/stuff from people who use the program.  I showed your smog article to some WoW people and they pretty much said "Yeah, everyone knows that already".

[Sidoh]

You should have sent a copy our way so you could get feedback/stuff from people who use the program.  I showed your smog article to some WoW people and they pretty much said "Yeah, everyone knows that already".

You have to remember, though, not everyone who reads the blog plays MMO games.  It's doubtful that those who don't already know that.

[Blaze]

You should have sent a copy our way so you could get feedback/stuff from people who use the program.  I showed your smog article to some WoW people and they pretty much said "Yeah, everyone knows that already".

You have to remember, though, not everyone who reads the blog plays MMO games.  It's doubtful that those who don't already know that.

I know, I was just saying before I forgot. 

[iago]

Well, I wrote a blog about this which should publish tomorrow or Thursday, and I tiptoes around the issues that I didn't understand. I wonder what PR will say...

You should have sent a copy our way so you could get feedback/stuff from people who use the program.  I showed your smog article to some WoW people and they pretty much said "Yeah, everyone knows that already".

I'm assuming that's a complement. I obviously did a good job!

We'll see if I can pull it off again

[Joe]

That's not like x86-loader at all. But thanks for coming!

Well, it strips a program of methods of finding other programs, so sort of!

[iago]

That's not like x86-loader at all. But thanks for coming!

Well, it strips a program of methods of finding other programs, so sort of!

Mine does no such thing. Mine disables the ACLs that prevent injection, that's it.

[disco]

That's not like x86-loader at all. But thanks for coming!

Hah!


It's funny, this is the first I've heard of this program and I'm very tempted to use it.  You'd think the fact that I learned about it in a thread about the mass bannings that it's lead to would throw me off...

[AntiVirus]

It's funny, this is the first I've heard of this program and I'm very tempted to use it.  You'd think the fact that I learned about it in a thread about the mass bannings that it's lead to would throw me off...

If I had more money I would probably give it a try.. but I don't.

[Sidoh]

Hah!


It's funny, this is the first I've heard of this program and I'm very tempted to use it.  You'd think the fact that I learned about it in a thread about the mass bannings that it's lead to would throw me off...

I wouldn't say I've used it extensively, but I have made upwards of 1,000g using it (and this was back before BC when the price of everything was 50% of what it is now).  I haven't used it to level a character, but that's because I only used it on my level 60 characters.

No ban here.  It's probably a combination of luck and paranoia.  It's really important that you create your own profiles so that it isn't so obvious that you're being controlled by glider.

[Joe]

Hah!


It's funny, this is the first I've heard of this program and I'm very tempted to use it.  You'd think the fact that I learned about it in a thread about the mass bannings that it's lead to would throw me off...

I wouldn't say I've used it extensively, but I have made upwards of 1,000g using it (and this was back before BC when the price of everything was 50% of what it is now).  I haven't used it to level a character, but that's because I only used it on my level 60 characters.

No ban here.  It's probably a combination of luck and paranoia.  It's really important that you create your own profiles so that it isn't so obvious that you're being controlled by glider.

It'd be interesting for Mercury to say how many licensed copies of Glider are out there. But, I don't know where this is from but I've heard he's made seven figures off of them, so figuring $1,000,000 at $15 a pop, thats 66,666 copies. And wow, Glider must be Satanic.

[iago]

http://www.symantec.com/enterprise/security_response/weblog/2007/06/cheaters_banned_from_world_of.html

And if anybody knows any other potentially-interesting stories about WoW, let me know. People seem to find WoW interesting.

[Joe]

I wonder..what if you run WoW in a sandboxed environment and the hack (Glider in this case) outside the sandbox?
If Warden just theoretically scans Process Lists/Window Titles wouldn't this problem be effectively fixed?

Yeah... I thought about this. I forget why I stopped caring though.

Sorry for the bump, but most of the detection is based on "characteristics" of a bot, not the actual presence of the software.
- Running in "robotic" patterns, stopping, swiveling, and walking again.
- Jumping in a rhythmic pattern.
- Walking in small circles, if your patrol sucks.
- Walking in circles at all, if people are bored enough to watch.
- If you're farming anything worth farming, other people will probably be farming as well. They may try to interact with you, or watch you.
- Also in more populated areas, following the same patrol as another botter, especially of the other faction. That's almost a dead giveaway, every time.

What you're suggesting, sandboxing it, is sort of what Glider does.
- Glider runs WoW as a non-administrator user.
- It automagically changes it's EXE's name as well as window title, so a simple window listing or task listing can't find it.
- IIRC, it sort of regenerates itself, moving functions and whatnot around in memory at random, so a memory hash can't be a reliable fingerprint.
- Although Warden doesn't scan the hard drive (yet?), it makes it's folder hidden.

[iago]

it makes it's folder hidden.

Possessive pronouns don't have an apostrophe! Stop giving them one!!

[AntiVirus]

it makes it's folder hidden.

Possessive pronouns don't have an apostrophe! Stop giving them one!!

HA!  It wasn't me this time!!

[Joe]

This just took a serious turn for the worst.

[Blaze]

Sorry for the bump, but most of the detection is based on "characteristics" of a bot, not the actual presence of the software.
- Running in "robotic" patterns, stopping, swiveling, and walking again.
- Jumping in a rhythmic pattern.
- Walking in small circles, if your patrol sucks.
- Walking in circles at all, if people are bored enough to watch.
- If you're farming anything worth farming, other people will probably be farming as well. They may try to interact with you, or watch you.
- Also in more populated areas, following the same patrol as another botter, especially of the other faction. That's almost a dead giveaway, every time.

What you're suggesting, sandboxing it, is sort of what Glider does.
- Glider runs WoW as a non-administrator user.
- It automagically changes it's EXE's name as well as window title, so a simple window listing or task listing can't find it.
- IIRC, it sort of regenerates itself, moving functions and whatnot around in memory at random, so a memory hash can't be a reliable fingerprint.
- Although Warden doesn't scan the hard drive (yet?), it makes it's folder hidden.

Now it's time for some, "Joe, you're wrong!" one of this forums favourite games!

I will rewrite Joe's quote now removing all that is incorrect!

Sorry for the bump, but most of the detection is based on "characteristics" of a bot, not the actual presence of the software.
- Running in "robotic" patterns, stopping, swiveling, and walking again.
- Jumping in a rhythmic pattern.
- Walking in small circles, if your patrol sucks.
- Walking in circles at all, if people are bored enough to watch.    <-- Obvious
- If you're farming anything worth farming, other people will probably be farming as well. They may try to interact with you, or watch you.    <-- Obvious
- Also in more populated areas, following the same patrol as another botter, especially of the other faction. That's almost a dead giveaway, every time.    <-- Obvious

What you're suggesting, sandboxing it, is sort of what Glider does.
- Glider runs WoW as a non-administrator user.
- It automagically changes it's EXE's name as well as window title, so a simple window listing or task listing can't find it.
- IIRC, it sort of regenerates itself, moving functions and whatnot around in memory at random, so a memory hash can't be a reliable fingerprint.
- Although Warden doesn't scan the hard drive (yet?), it makes its folder hidden.

Oh, and bump. 

[Furious]

Sorry for the bump, but most of the detection is based on "characteristics" of a bot, not the actual presence of the software.
- Running in "robotic" patterns, stopping, swiveling, and walking again.
- Jumping in a rhythmic pattern.
- Walking in small circles, if your patrol sucks.
- Walking in circles at all, if people are bored enough to watch.
- If you're farming anything worth farming, other people will probably be farming as well. They may try to interact with you, or watch you.
- Also in more populated areas, following the same patrol as another botter, especially of the other faction. That's almost a dead giveaway, every time.

What you're suggesting, sandboxing it, is sort of what Glider does.
- Glider runs WoW as a non-administrator user.
- It automagically changes it's EXE's name as well as window title, so a simple window listing or task listing can't find it.
- IIRC, it sort of regenerates itself, moving functions and whatnot around in memory at random, so a memory hash can't be a reliable fingerprint.
- Although Warden doesn't scan the hard drive (yet?), it makes it's folder hidden.

Now it's time for some, "Joe, you're wrong!" one of this forums favourite games!

I will rewrite Joe's quote now removing all that is incorrect!

Sorry for the bump, but most of the detection is based on "characteristics" of a bot, not the actual presence of the software.
- Running in "robotic" patterns, stopping, swiveling, and walking again.
- Jumping in a rhythmic pattern.
- Walking in small circles, if your patrol sucks.
- Walking in circles at all, if people are bored enough to watch.    <-- Obvious
- If you're farming anything worth farming, other people will probably be farming as well. They may try to interact with you, or watch you.    <-- Obvious
- Also in more populated areas, following the same patrol as another botter, especially of the other faction. That's almost a dead giveaway, every time.    <-- Obvious

What you're suggesting, sandboxing it, is sort of what Glider does.
- Glider runs WoW as a non-administrator user.
- It automagically changes it's EXE's name as well as window title, so a simple window listing or task listing can't find it.
- IIRC, it sort of regenerates itself, moving functions and whatnot around in memory at random, so a memory hash can't be a reliable fingerprint.
- Although Warden doesn't scan the hard drive (yet?), it makes its folder hidden.

Oh, and bump. 

Nothing was wrong with Joe's post.  Running in "robotic" patterns WILL give you away.  All someone has to do is report that they *think* you may be botting.  They may have tried talking to you a few times and gave up, which is what happened to my first account.

[Blaze]

Joe was talking about how Blizzard detects your botting, not how players do it and when he did talk about how players did it he used the most obvious descriptions which could be summed into two categories:  to be reported or being caught by Warden, the second of which he didn't mention.

Blizzard is constantly working on ways to detect a bot, and when they find one, they push a new version of Warden.

[Joe]

Quote where in my post I said that only Blizzard is doing that.

(Bump!)