Nintendo Switch hackers Team Xecuter leaders arrested, charged in federal indictment

GatoFiestero · Dec 4, 2020

problem solved disabling mission control.

realtimesave · Dec 4, 2020

Welp, sorry for the necrobump but... so much for Gary oPa. Last heard he was in court in New Jersey, USA. Probably won't ever hear from that son of a gun ever again.

Legendaykai · Dec 4, 2020

fadx said:
Bound to happen sooner or later. Was obvious Nintendo was getting more serious with the relentless shutting down of resellers.

Couldn't be happier with this news. Serves them right!

realtimesave · Dec 4, 2020

Legendaykai said:
Couldn't be happier with this news. Serves them right!

Hey why, Gary is a nice guy though.

Legendaykai · Dec 5, 2020

sorry but that shouldnt matter if they are "chill" or not you break the law you pay the price no exceptions!

realtimesave · Dec 5, 2020

Legendaykai said:
sorry but that shouldnt matter if they are "chill" or not you break the law you pay the price no exceptions!

lmfao they are still updating the sx os. for the win.

White_Raven_X · Dec 5, 2020

They will probably never arrest Yuan_ning Ch_en as he won't leave China...and he's probably the one that's keeping it going.

fadx · Dec 5, 2020

Nintendo is not gonna be happy, I'd guess more lawsuits will come to retailers who continue to sell their products assuming the supply is still there.

White_Raven_X · Dec 5, 2020

fadx said:
Nintendo is not gonna be happy, I'd guess more lawsuits will come to retailers who continue to sell their products assuming the supply is still there.

People have been buying from China retailers now, I don't think anyone in USA, GB, EU, or Canada would be dumb enough to start selling them again.

Flying Scotsman · Dec 6, 2020

fadx said:
Nintendo is not gonna be happy, I'd guess more lawsuits will come to retailers who continue to sell their products assuming the supply is still there.

Chinese resellers went underground for a while when Ninty came knocking and started suing but it seems they're back on AliExpress. They've changed the keywords but they're definitely still there. Even some big EU based resellers ship from China (can't remember the name but it's a huge German mod chip shop does this and this is how I got mine).

Fun fact - they also change the item declaration to things like "SD card reader" or "programming device" to bypass customs (my one was sent as "SD card adapter"). Governments aren't going to suddenly retrain their customs staff to spot these coming in even if that is Ninty's end goal in trying to stop them.

fadx · Dec 6, 2020

Flying Scotsman said:
Chinese resellers went underground for a while when Ninty came knocking and started suing but it seems they're back on AliExpress. They've changed the keywords but they're definitely still there. Even some big EU based resellers ship from China (can't remember the name but it's a huge German mod chip shop does this and this is how I got mine).

Fun fact - they also change the item declaration to things like "SD card reader" or "programming device" to bypass customs (my one was sent as "SD card adapter"). Governments aren't going to suddenly retrain their customs staff to spot these coming in even if that is Ninty's end goal in trying to stop them.

Yeah there's only so much Nintendo can do, if they're shipping directly from China then Nintendo can't win. There's only so much they could do at customs, even if they were told to look out for something they'd probably only be interested in (and only really have a chance at spotting) the shipments of hundreds of units intended for resellers.

I'm sure there will be clones of the Mariko chips eventually, western resellers probably wouldn't want to touch those either. It's a shame really, I wonder if Nintendo wouldn't have come down so strong if TX weren't so focused on the goal of piracy.

White_Raven_X · Dec 7, 2020

At the end of the day. It isnt just anyone that can unlock/hack/jailbreak their nintendo consoles... so how much money are they really loosing. People like us will always want to tinker and mod...and that, they can never stop!

Itsyaboy · Jan 16, 2021

Free team xecuter!

Jayro · Jan 16, 2021

Does anyone know the roles of the specific hacker's that were arrested? Because if they weren't coders for the updates, then it might not matter that they're gone.

Itsyaboy · Jan 16, 2021

Jayro said:
Does anyone know the roles of the specific hacker's that were arrested? Because if they weren't coders for the updates, then it might not matter that they're gone.

I read somewhere that one of the coders is in China so they can’t arrest or extradite him, he might actually be the only one left not 100 about that tho, but that’s why updates have been slow, I’m dying for 11.0.1 tho I just got my self an unpatched switch and I want sxos, might have a spot to buy the license key, but I need to be able to verify it right after I purchase so for now I have to wait.

Basketto · Jan 16, 2021

Jayro said:
Does anyone know the roles of the specific hacker's that were arrested? Because if they weren't coders for the updates, then it might not matter that they're gone.

Bowser was the CEO, and the other a sales rep.

Imancol · Jan 16, 2021

Are there Ceos in a hacking organization? I think rather that they are informal replaceable people that anyone can follow their legacy if they get the Xecuter license (if it exists and is legal or anyone can be called Xecuter)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

PS: I don't understand why Google Translate translates me as Hacking when I meant PIRACY, which are very different terms.

White_Raven_X · Jan 16, 2021

If there's anyone left, they are probably laying low.
But why use sx ox now anyways. You can easily load atmosphere now by using sx_gear_V1.1.zip... I'm on 11.0.1 without any issues at all.

Flying Scotsman · Jan 18, 2021

Ghost92 said:
Are there Ceos in a hacking organization? I think rather that they are informal replaceable people that anyone can follow their legacy if they get the Xecuter license (if it exists and is legal or anyone can be called Xecuter)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

PS: I don't understand why Google Translate translates me as Hacking when I meant PIRACY, which are very different terms.

In terms of "hacker" organisations (blackhat or threat actor would be more fitting) - surprisingly yes and it's more common than you think.

For example some of the big Ransomware "gangs" (like Maze) have a corporate structure (CEO, accountant, VP etc) including perks like private health care and even an R&D fund they use to hire black hats to improve their ransomware strains (making them faster, reducing detection vectors etc). Interestingly the big names in malware get their devs to work on remote VMs hosted on servers they own reducing the likelihood of the devs being arrested and the source being found and/or leaked. For what they do - it's very well planned out.

Granted they earn millions through fraud which allows them to do this so I don't expect TX to be the same (that sounds more like a loose band of people with different skills than a full corporate-like hierarchy).

It's very likely TX used contractors to do the dev side of things as well which cuts costs they could funnel into R&D projects (mod chips) and the savings would then be used as down payments for the factories churning out their hardware. Being a contractor would also allow them to pay less than they would have if they were full time and could let them go at a much shorter notice than if they were an legit business which is likely what happened when Ninty had a bunch of TX staff arrested and suddenly the code style changed in the binary (Hexkeyz mentioned this on Twitter).

Imancol · Jan 18, 2021

Flying Scotsman said:
In terms of "hacker" organisations (blackhat or threat actor would be more fitting) - surprisingly yes and it's more common than you think.

For example some of the big Ransomware "gangs" (like Maze) have a corporate structure (CEO, accountant, VP etc) including perks like private health care and even an R&D fund they use to hire black hats to improve their ransomware strains (making them faster, reducing detection vectors etc). Interestingly the big names in malware get their devs to work on remote VMs hosted on servers they own reducing the likelihood of the devs being arrested and the source being found and/or leaked. For what they do - it's very well planned out.

Granted they earn millions through fraud which allows them to do this so I don't expect TX to be the same (that sounds more like a loose band of people with different skills than a full corporate-like hierarchy).

It's very likely TX used contractors to do the dev side of things as well which cuts costs they could funnel into R&D projects (mod chips) and the savings would then be used as down payments for the factories churning out their hardware. Being a contractor would also allow them to pay less than they would have if they were full time and could let them go at a much shorter notice than if they were an legit business which is likely what happened when Ninty had a bunch of TX staff arrested and suddenly the code style changed in the binary (Hexkeyz mentioned this on Twitter).

I am amazed how large servers and malicious code are needed to access other systems simply using a connection that has existed for more than 5 decades, consisting of TX inputs, opposite RX inputs and output.
In any case, the employees of said factory will not miss the opportunity to manufacture their own versions. And I think some variants have been on the market for a long time (SwitchMe ... I no longer remember which others because Google has blocked the search for many URLs by DMCA)

Well-Known Member

///AMG

Well-Known Member

///AMG

Well-Known Member

///AMG

Hack everything, hack the world!

Filthy Cheater

Hack everything, hack the world!

Well-Known Member

Filthy Cheater

Hack everything, hack the world!

Member

MediCat USB Dev

Member

Well-Known Member

Otak Productions

Hack everything, hack the world!

Well-Known Member

Otak Productions

Similar threads

Popular threads in this forum