^USING EINSTEIN TO TAKE DOWN A RICH GAMER: This kind of #hacking
is wicked - but at the same time... the wicked side of me gives
credit for the cleverness of these hackers. Why?
They exploited something we NEVER usually think about: #time
Did you know that we only #pretend that things happen at the
same time?
Yup.
See: #Einstein We're just pretending to have #synchronicity
Two things can't happen at the same time; the time things happen
all depends how you look at it. It's a basic #truth of the
Universe, as far as we know it.
So: How do we get things like multiplayer games working
smoothly?
Tricks. Very tricky tricks. Humans are slow compared to
computers, so if we almost make things happen at the same time
(say, nanoseconds apart - even milliseconds, although gamers are
getting more aware of millisecond lag - human #evolution in a
sense - except gamers often don't have kids to extend their
capabilities into the #future but there will always be better
games to continue the skillset - anyway...), we generally won't
notice.
Anyway, for us to PRETEND that things are happening at the same
time, we have to get the #clocks on all of the computers in a
network - say... a big one like the Internet... all more or less
running at a CLOSE ENOUGH time: similar enough so that a gamer
in Florida playing on a server in Finland WON'T NOTICE any #lag
BUT: What these clever hackers are doing is messing with #ntp -
Network Time Protocol
It's been used for over 30 years; almost nobody - not even
security people really pay attention to it. Just the volunteers
at the Network Time Foundation really pay attention to it. Big
web servers and Internet providers often don't pay attention to
it... allowing hackers to mess with the clocks in great floods,
milliseconds apart, creating lag in the systems that TRY to fake
the idea that things are happening simultaneously.
The gamer, who perhaps makes thousands and thousands of dollars
through advertising revenue while doing his professional gaming
cast... can't play right. Might even lose connection.
Advertisers go "well, WE just wasted our many thousands of
dollars, showing our ads to NOBODY - since NOBODY is going to
watch a BROKEN game"... and BOOM, they lose their sponsership
because the millions of kids, teens and adults that the
advertisers expected to be watching, aren't.
All.. because... these guys messed... with... Time.
Of course some ISPs and server hosts are putting up security
features - simple ones that were already built into the system
but again, this protocol is so ancient and people take the idea
of #SYNCHRONICITY for granted, we humans don't think it's even
possible to mess with Time.
But #time is an #illusion
it exists - it's real.. but it's different for EVERYBODY - even
computers.
We only fake the idea that things could happen at the same time.
They can't. They don't. And when someone is clever enough to
realize that... and is bored - or hates a particular gamer and
wants to take him down.. here's an easy way.
Now you know.
-Kenneth Udut
Honestly more impressed by the hackers because, well, there's no
reason for doors to be left open for 30 years; the Early
Internet was full of #trust and I still believe in it; but if
they wanna get #money involved... well, people with money (like
advertisers) are fickle and run away at the first sign that
something isn't perfect.... like a video feed of an unplayable
laggy game whose illusion of synchronicity is being messed
around with... :P
^
