Technical Attack

On this server, a “Technical Attack” is an attempt to deliberately disrupt, damage, compromise, or gain unauthorized access to MinecraftOnline, its services, or another player’s computer or software.

Technical attacks are treated seriously and with urgency because they can affect more than just the Minecraft game itself. Unlike ordinary gameplay offenses, technical attacks can potentially affect the availability, security, and integrity of the server or systems used by players, or compromise sensitive personal user data, and constitute criminal acts. Cyberattacks against the server and its players fall under this type of rule.

Each case is handled individually before action is taken. While admins are typically the only ones to handle such cases, in some of the more common and less serious cases, such as crashing the server via an exploit, moderators can also issue appropriate bans.

What is a Technical Attack

Specifically, any of the following count as technical attacks:

• Attempting to disrupt, disable, or damage the MinecraftOnline server or its services. Some examples are:
  • Crashing the server via an exploit.
  • DDoSing the server.
  • Crashing other players’ clients.
  • Breaking an in-game feature for all players via an exploit.
• Attempting to gain unauthorized access to the server, its accounts, infrastructure, or administrative systems. Some examples are:
  • Brute force attempts against login systems.
  • Phishing attempts.
  • Credential stuffing.
  • Session hijacking.
• Deliberately distributing malicious software, files, or other harmful content to players or the server.
  • Posting malicious links in chat can be considered an attempt at doing so, but it could alternatively fall under spam.
• Using MinecraftOnline or its services as part of an attack against another system.
• Attempting to interfere with or circumvent technical safeguards intended to protect the server or its players.
• Attempting to circumvent access controls to reveal player private data.

For this rule to apply in-game, the person responsible must be a MinecraftOnline player. This is a requirement.

This list is not intended to describe every possible form of technical attack. Technology and attack methods change over time, and a method does not need to be specifically listed here for it to constitute a violation of this rule.

Technical attacks do not have to be successful to be considered violations. An attempted attack may be treated just as seriously as a successful one, particularly when the attempt demonstrates a clear malicious intent. Technical attacks typically fall under criminal acts, such as the Computer Misuse Act in the UK, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the US, data espionage or computer sabotage laws in the EU, etc. We will not hesitate to report attackers to the relevant legal authorities, and have automated detection systems in place that do so routinely, without the need for human intervention.

What is not a Technical Attack

Not every technical problem, exploit, or unusual behavior constitutes a Technical Attack.

The following are generally not considered Technical Attacks on their own:

• Accidentally triggering a bug or vulnerability.
  • We don’t expect every player to know about every type of bug or vulnerability.
  • These should be reported if identified as such by the player that triggered them.
• Using an ordinary Minecraft exploit to gain an in-game advantage.
  • Depending on the circumstances it may fall under Grief or Cheating instead.
• Using “hacks”
  • This refers to cheat client mods that give an unfair advantage, which is instead covered under our Cheating.
• Testing a feature or reporting a vulnerability in good faith
  • Players that discover a potential vulnerability should report it to staff rather than attempting to abuse it.
  • Attempts at testing should be discussed before doing so, as otherwise we may not know you were trying to do so in good faith.
  • Doing something like this “just because” or due to “wanting to see what would happen” will be treated far more harshly without prior approval, depending on the damage done.
  • We even give tokens and bug nets to players that report bugs found.

Compromised accounts

In order to avoid a compromised account going rogue in-game, we can ban the account on request if the player provides evidence that the account was compromised.

We do not consider account sharing or trading to fall under this, such as an account shared between siblings or buying/selling accounts. It is the responsibility of any account owner to ensure that other individuals within the same living space do not access the account to break the rules.