PSA: Brickers Abound

warning.png
Just a short Public Service Announcement for our users, particularly the ones who like their Homebrew on Nintendo platforms. The Homebrew community tends to be positive and participating in it is a recipe for a good time, but no group of people is free of bad actors with too much time on their hands. We have reason to believe that in the near future we'll see a lot of suspicious uploads of innocent-looking applications that are actually concealed console brickers and viruses. We came across a disconcerting threat against our site, among others, made by a Wii malware creator.

The safety of our users is our number one priority, so we strongly urge forum-goers to be weary of applications uploaded to the site recently, particularly if they come from relatively new accounts. We apologise for this inconvenience, but sadly there is little we can do besides staying vigilant and dealing swiftly with any and all suspicious content.

Stay safe, and keep on Tempin'!
 

lisreal2401

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2013
Messages
853
Trophies
1
Age
27
XP
2,907
Country
United States
Verify wiibrew edits
Only source anything from there outside of what already exists

That's basically all you'd have to do in terms of mitigating something like this. There's probably like 6 teenagers that are bored enough to waste time attempting anything significant with this, the public release would amount to Discord trolls, again, with literally nothing else to do.

If you're trying to mass brick a bunch of consoles, try making it for something that's in active development and not a $20 box that any person with half a brain has been able to mod for the entire decade. You'd at least have some credibility as a fuckstick, not just a fuckstick.

EDIT: You're only keeping this private for 1 week? Come on guys, gotta be more confident than that :D
 
Last edited by lisreal2401,
  • Like
Reactions: Forgotten_Email

Foxi4

Endless Trash
OP
Global Moderator
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
30,824
Trophies
3
Location
Gaming Grotto
XP
29,819
Country
Poland
Since when are trolls given a serious time?

Unless there's already reports of bricks floating around, this seems more like seeding FUD to me and oversizing some random trolls who want to get a rise out of people.
As I said, these people have released malware before, so we have to treat any threat they make seriously, particularly when they're aimed against our community specifically. It doesn't hurt to be safe - verifying before installing should be normal practice anyway. We don't want to spread any form of panic, but you can't be too careful, can you?
 

Alexander1970

XP not matters.
Member
Joined
Nov 8, 2018
Messages
14,973
Trophies
3
Location
Austria
XP
2,495
Country
Austria
It is not only the bricking Thing....

FEAR is the weapon put on by these people.

To achieve:

All are unsure,nobody does not longer have the confidence in Modding their Wii´s...
This kind of...:(
 
  • Like
Reactions: IncredulousP

Foxi4

Endless Trash
OP
Global Moderator
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
30,824
Trophies
3
Location
Gaming Grotto
XP
29,819
Country
Poland
It's weird.

That DS bricker was literally nuked off the Internet for years, but resurfaced once bricking stuff = fun...

god dammit
I don't necessarily condone completely nuking these things because there's often a lot to be learned from them, they should simply be kept in containment by responsible parties. In the case of closely-knit communities like the Homebrew community stuff like this gets universally snuffed out pretty quickly. That's admirable, to be sure - people look out for each other.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Benja81

Gimzie

professional moron
Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Messages
278
Trophies
0
XP
988
Country
United States
gonna have to put up some wii memorials for this one

really though, as serious as these malware shenanigans are, the way this post is written sounds like a textbook villain of a movie/video game, it's almost hilarious.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zense

Foxi4

Endless Trash
OP
Global Moderator
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
30,824
Trophies
3
Location
Gaming Grotto
XP
29,819
Country
Poland
gonna have to put up some wii memorials for this one

really though, as serious as these malware shenanigans are, the way this post is written sounds like a textbook villain of a movie/video game, it's almost hilarious.
Their approach certainly sounds like a plot by Dick Dastardly. It's almost cartoonish, I don't understand why their group would "hype things up" like this besides the obvious intention of spreading terror. Now, we're not particularly terrified - we trust our users will heed the warning and won't install any odd binaries they got from a guy in a trench coat behind the dumpsters.
 

DinohScene

Gay twink catboy
Global Moderator
Joined
Oct 11, 2011
Messages
22,530
Trophies
4
Location
Восторг
XP
22,723
Country
Antarctica
Their approach certainly sounds like a plot by Dick Dastardly. It's almost cartoonish, I don't understand why their group would "hype things up" like this besides the obvious intention of spreading terror. Now, we're not particularly terrified - we trust our users will heed the warning and won't install any odd binaries they got from a guy in a trench coat behind the dumpsters.

You're underestimating the userbase...

In all honesty, the users with some know how will stay away from it, it's the noobies that will come flooding in.
 

KleinesSinchen

GBAtemp's Backup Reminder + Fearless Testing Sina
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
4,418
Trophies
2
XP
14,853
Country
Germany
Okay, I’m not a developer. Nevertheless: Bricking a Wii to a point where only restoring a NAND backup with something like an Infectus/NAND programmer can help seems plausible to me. I hate something like that.

Posting this warning on the front page is a good thing
. But it’s also giving those idiots their five minutes of fame.

If any of those malware authors reads this: I feel bad for you! If you feel the necessity of spreading FUD and/or malware you must have a miserable live.
 

Jiehfeng

The One
Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,498
Trophies
2
Location
netti netti.
Website
www.youtube.com
XP
7,018
Country
Sri Lanka
On the bright side, most of us are not so quick to getting homebrew as soon as they release. If there's something up with one, there will be comments, which is why you always check the comments first if there is any. It sounds wrong, but there will most likely be someone who takes the fall first. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 

Foxi4

Endless Trash
OP
Global Moderator
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
30,824
Trophies
3
Location
Gaming Grotto
XP
29,819
Country
Poland
Okay, I’m not a developer. Nevertheless: Bricking a Wii to a point where only restoring a NAND backup with something like an Infectus/NAND programmer can help seems plausible to me. I hate something like that.

Posting this warning on the front page is a good thing
. But it’s also giving those idiots their five minutes of fame.

If any of those malware authors reads this: I feel bad for you! If you feel the necessity of spreading FUD and/or malware you must have a miserable live.
I specifically don't use any names in the post, the Google bot also ignores text in quotation tags, so I'm giving them zero publicity, since I know that's precisely what they desire. They're not getting it from us, their SEO will gain nothing from our little PSA, it's aimed to warn our users only. :)
 

DSoryu

GBA/NDS Maniac
Member
Joined
May 5, 2010
Messages
2,356
Trophies
2
Location
In my house
XP
4,757
Country
Mexico
I have a weird feeling that they used the Wii references as disguise, so be careful with any new homebrew (whatever the platform) that surfaces after the 7th, I bet my pocket's money that it will be aimed to the switch scene.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Victorum and Zense

Gimzie

professional moron
Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2016
Messages
278
Trophies
0
XP
988
Country
United States
Their approach certainly sounds like a plot by Dick Dastardly. It's almost cartoonish, I don't understand why their group would "hype things up" like this besides the obvious intention of spreading terror. Now, we're not particularly terrified - we trust our users will heed the warning and won't install any odd binaries they got from a guy in a trench coat behind the dumpsters.

wii terrorism is something fierce, ey?
 

KleinesSinchen

GBAtemp's Backup Reminder + Fearless Testing Sina
Member
GBAtemp Patron
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
4,418
Trophies
2
XP
14,853
Country
Germany
I specifically don't use any names in the post, the Google bot also ignores text in quotation tags, so I'm giving them zero publicity, since I know that's precisely what they desire. They're not getting it from us, their SEO will gain nothing from our little PSA, it's aimed to warn our users only. :)
That's very good! Thank you for the explanation.
 
D

Deleted User

Guest
Posting this warning on the front page is a good thing. But it’s also giving those idiots their five minutes of fame.

It's almost like a catch-22. You want to let people know so they avoid it and deal wisely, but if you do, you also have the unwanted effect of publicizing them.
EDIT: frickin' ninjas man

I would argue and say that it's good for the newer users at the least.
 
Last edited by ,

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
    Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty: @Purple_Heart, ohkay