[Hydra]

The edition you are currently reading is the 272nd edition of the HF News. To read any older editions of the HF News, please go here.

Account Policy Update
The rules concerning lost or stolen accounts have been updated and new sets are in place for each forum rank. Non-upgraded stolen accounts without deal disputes will be closed but with permission to open a new account in its place. Upgraded account owners who have failed to secure their accounts are personally responsible and if evidence is lacking, the account may be closed. If any account has open disputes and/or scammer reputations, it will be closed regardless of rank. >>Source

Gauth Accessible to All
In a rare devolution of what once was a feature strictly reserved for Ub3rs, 2-factor authentication is being introduced to all upgrade tiers. This is expected to make way for a requirement which requires Gauth enabled before the Marketplace is accessible. >>Source

User News

• Levi has reached 1 year online time.
  

Bans*

• No notable bans were reported this week.
  

Vacations*

• Realizm took a vacation.
  
• godshawk took a vacation.
  
• Logic⁢ ⁢ took a vacation.
  
• J.P Morgan took a vacation.
  
• Xerah took a vacation.
  

Closures

• PoisonKnife was closed.
  

Rep Kills

• Zyptic was rep killed.
  
• PoisonKnife was rep killed.
  

Awards

• Nex+ donated for Master Donator and received Black Hatter.
  
• .:[Hack]:. is a Frog.
  
• 'Cynical is Cool.
  
• Cooligan received Sticky Man for his thread here.
  

* - As of the Friday prior to release.

Announcement Threads

---Gauth for L33t, 3P1C, and Ub3r - Omniscient
---Omniscient has enabled Gauth for all upgraded members. Omniscient states, "It is VITAL that if you're going to participate in the HF Marketplace that you enable Gauth on your account."

---Marketplace Gauth Requirement - Omniscient
---Omniscient will be requiring you to enable Gauth if you are upgraded in order to use the marketplace.

---Lost or Stolen Account Policy - Omniscient
---Omniscient is planning on updating the Lost or Stolen Account Policy Help Docs.

---Security Email Notifications - Omniscient
---Omniscient has recently added security email notifications. Be sure to check this thread for important information regarding the security of your account!

---Nominations: December 2015 - Froggy
---Nominations for the monthly "Member of the Month" competition have started for the month of December. Do not forget to nominate someone now!

Informational Threads

---The Ultimate Innuendo Thread | Section Information and More - Cooligan
---Congrats on the sticky Cooligan! In The Ultimate Innuendo Thread, you will learn more about the Innuendo forum, the rules to follow, and even a set of other helpful threads.

Entertaining Threads

---What did you get for Christmas? | Pictures! | Three years strong! - Fox™
---Want to show off those amazing gifts you got for Christmas? Fox™ has created a thread just for that!

---The First Annual Hack Forums Time Capsule - Cooligan
--- With the help of Cooligan, users will be able to check out how their accounts have changed over a one year time-span. The thread will close on Jan. 1, 2016 and re-open on Dec. 18, 2016.

Member Feedback Threads

---[Ex-Staff] 6.5 Year Feedback Thread - Inveno
--- Ex-Staff Inveno also known as Phire Nuk3r has created a feedback thread after being a member of Hack Forums for six and a half years.

---Shark's 5 Year Feedback - Shark
--- After five years on Hack Forums, Shark has made a feedback thread which also includes a little history of how he found the forum.

---Retribute's Personal Feedback | 4.5 years - Retribute
---Hack Forums is an amazing site to meet friends and learn new trades. Read about Retribute's feedback and story here.

Contests and Giveaways

---[Upgrade Giveaway] Buying 3p1c For 1 Lucky Member! {Part 2} - Rʏᴀɴ Rᴇʏɴᴏʟᴅs ❤️
---Would you like a chance to win an 3P1C upgrade? Now is your chance!

---Gift Award From Miki --| [#3] - Miki
---Ever wanted the Gift award? Here's an opportunity to do so!

---Logic's New Years Eve Giveaway!! Ub3r Upgrade L33t Giveaway Gift Award PayPal - Logic
---Want L33t or Ub3r? Maybe even money to buy a Gift Award too? This contest is the one for you!

Miscellaneous

---Can you lie to someone face to face? - Modovich
---Do you think you're an expert at lying? Share some of your stories in this thread.

---Weird Things Who Soup sold on HF - Who Soup
---There's some silly stuff the member Who Soup has sold on Hack Forums. Interested in knowing what some of those items are?

Interview - iHydra (Click to View)

.Sinister: Hey there, Hydra! Welcome to this year's last edition of the HF News. This interview is going to be a bit different from the rest. But before we begin, do you have any shoutouts you want to make?
iHydra: Never been a fan of shoutouts but why not? Shoutout to Wires, Realizm, Redizm, illuminati with a triangle, and everyone else in Writers, Red Lions, and Titans. Big shoutout, but I guess that's been the trend.

.Sinister: You might have been asked this before, but why did you join HF? Any particular reason?
iHydra: I've had a funny history with Hack Forums. Was a member way before 2010. In '08 I think it was, I found HF and wanted to download something from there(can't remember but probably was related to hacking like a RAT or crypter). Anyways, so I got that download and never came back to HF until 2010 when I found out my account had been pruned so I made a new one. The reason I came back was again, for hacking tools. I was a stupid little kid and interested in iStealer so I messed around with it. But yea, grew out of that phase and went onto graphic design.

.Sinister: Interesting. But look at you now! How did you become leader of the groups you are currently leading?
iHydra: Realizm and I knew each other before Titans even became a group. We were good friends on a different forum and he found me on HF so he asked me if I'd like to lead a group with him and I obviously said yes. That was the first group I had ever lead. Then I became a leader of Red Lions and Writers which both were a surprise to me. nokia2mon2 PMed me asking if I'd like to lead Red Lions. With Writers, after the previous leader was gone, members in Writers at the time started nominating members to be the new leader of Writers. I was chosen, thanks to those members who nominated me.

.Sinister: Rumors has it that Omni tucks you in bed at night. What does he say to you when he tucks you in?
iHydra: Well, that's gotta be between us two. Can't say or else he might stop tucking me in bed at night.

illuminati▲: Hydra, I heard you have a thing for feet, can you confirm or deny this? Also will you sign my feet?
iHydra: I was told your feet smell really bad so I'd rather just sign your arm.

illuminati▲: So you do like feet, is that what I'm understanding? Who told you my secret o.O?
iHydra: If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

illuminati▲: Okay :o. Have you ever done anything embarrassing in school? Like call a teacher mom or dad, fart in class, or anything like that?
iHydra: The most embarrassing thing would probably be when I peed on myself in class when I was younger, around 9 years old or so. I was laughing at a joke, a bit too hard...

illuminati▲: Lololol, that is really embarrassing. Did you get made fun of for it, or nah?
iHydra: I think I hid it and told my teacher in private. Can't remember.

illuminati▲: Fair enough. Have you ever been listening to a song that you really liked/enjoyed and started dancing or singing out loud, turn around to see someone was watching you?
iHydra: I can't dance even if my life depended on it so nah

illuminati▲: Fair enough. You ever dropped food on the floor, pick it up, look around to see if anyone noticed or seen, then proceeded to eat it?
iHydra: I find that extremely disgusting and being a semi-germaphobe, nope. Never will either.

illuminati▲: True. If you had to pick one person on Hack Forums to date for an entire year, who would you pick, and why?
iHydra: Would have to be a girl I guess and I only know two girls on Hack Forums. Froggy I guess, lmfao. But if gender wasn't a factor, probably Redizm. He's too cute to not date

illuminati▲: That's true I can vouch for redizm, he's a cutie. Okay I have one last question. What is your favourite fast food? I've kinda wondered about that.
iHydra: I don't like fast food but when I need to eat at one, it's gotta be McDonalds!

.Sinister: Well, before we wrap this up. Is there any reason you'd pick Froggy and not anyone else?
iHydra: She's a frog, who wouldn't want to date a frog!?

[Hydra]

We publish the HF News every week yet we have aged members who don't even know we exist! Wear any of the signatures listed below to support us and spread the word about HF News, HF Wiki, and Writers altogether.

Support Signatures (Click to View)

1st

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img=500x150]https://i.imgur.com/rIEO5r0.gif[/img][/url][/align]

2nd

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/POVfq7u.png[/img][/url][/align]

3rd

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/bTTz7WE.png[/img][/url][/align]

4th

Code

[align=center][url=http://bitly.com/1FnhESq][img]https://i.imgur.com/pdoOihY.png[/img][/url][/align]

How The Phantom Squad Stole Christmas
A week before Christmas, hacking group "Phantom Squad" announced plans to ruin the holidays for gamers. By the looks of things, it seems that the group turned their plans into reality, and with the help from another group known as "SkidNP", they temporarily shut down Steam's servers. It appears as though Steam were not the only targets of these seedy hackers, EA were also targeted with attacks that lasted up to 3 hours; this stopped some gamers in their tracks, forcing them to socialize with their family and friends and eat a Christmas dinner at the table, rather than at the desk.

Root@XXX
A 23 year old Bahamian man has been arrested and charged with hacking into the Email accounts of 130 celebrities and stealing unreleased movie and TV scripts, sex tapes, explicit images and even the upcoming album of a famous A-List Celebrity. The hacker, Alonzo Knowles, attempted to sell the stolen scripts for the first six episodes of an unreleased hit television drama to a famous radio host. The unnamed host informed Homeland Security of his recent contact, who then cooked up a sting operation and had the radio host put the hacker in touch with an undercover investigator posing as a potential buyer. The hacker was arrested on Monday in Manhattan, a day after arriving from the Bahamas to sell the agent 15 movie and TV shows scripts and the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of a movie actress and two athletes for $80,000. The accounts were hacked after Knowles sent a virus to the celebrities and used information gained to socially engineer other celebrities into giving up their account details.

Hyatt Hotel's Payment Systems Infected With Credit-Card Stealing Malware
Hyatt Hotels Corporation is informing its customers that credit card information, as well as other sensitive information may have been stolen after malware was detected on the computers used to process customer payments. The company has not confirmed whether the attackers succeeded in stealing payment card numbers. It is unknown as to how long the computers have been infected or how many hotel chains were affected in the malware attack. The malware was discovered on 30 November and Hyatt spokeswoman did not justify why they waited over three weeks to report the incident. The amount of victims has not been confirmed, however, the world's leading hospitality corporation, headquartered in Chicago owns a portfolio of 627 properties in over 50 countries.

French Jihadist Commits Suicide in Prison
Convicted terrorist, Yassin Salhi, committed suicide in prison this week. Mr. Salhi was not considered a suicide risk, but had recently learned his detention was to be extended by six months. In June, Salhi gained some notoriety for his horrific acts of terror in Lyon. Salhi lured his boss, Hervé Cornara, into a truck where he knocked him unconscious and strangled him to death. He then decapitated his boss, and drove to a chemical plant in a nearby town, placing his boss's head on the fence outside. He put up two jihadist banners on the fence, and took pictures with his phone. He drove his truck into several pressurized cylinders to cause an explosion. Two people nearby were injured in the blast. About that time Mr. Salhi was arrested, before doing any further harm.

Indian Prime Minister Visits Pakistan
On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a visit to Pakistan to meet with Pakistan's premier Nawaz Sharif. The visit is the first between the two countries in over ten years. Modi had been in Afghanistan earlier in the day, on his way home from Russia, and called Sharif to wish him a happy 66th birthday. During the call Modi asked if he could stop by for a visit, to which Sharif replied "Please come, you are our guest, please come and have tea with me". The two leaders shared a meal, and spoke for about 90 minutes before Modi left for India. The two countries are long time rivals, and this spontaneous visit has raised hopes for future peace and progress.

Fire at a Houston Mosque, Possibly Arson
The Islamic Center of Houston in Texas went up in flames Friday after prayers, thankfully during a time when the place was empty. A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives representative said that the fire appeared suspicious, as it had "multiple points of origin" among other factors. There were no injuries reported. Special Agent Nicole Strong of the ATF said that the ATF typically gets involved in cases where "houses of worship are affected." While it is too soon to determine the cause, an investigation is underway. Center president M.J. Khan said "We are hoping it was an accident." The FBI said they are aware of the incident, but are not yet involved.

[Hydra]

First Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 DLC Announced
The creators of the popular military game Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Treyarch, just recently announced their first map pack coming to the game. The name of it is "Awakening", it consists of four brand new multiplayer maps, and one new Zombies map. Gauntlet, which is the name of one of the new multiplayer maps, is set in a military training facility. The map has three different sectors all distinguished by its climate, it could be rainy in the city, in the jungle, or in an arctic, snowy environment. Next up is Splash, a map set in an abandoned waterpark. Then there is Rise, a snowy construction site in Zurich. Finally, there is Skyjacked, which is essentially a remake of the map Hijacked from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, except it's a flying airship. Now for the part the community may seem most interested in, the new Zombies map, Der Eisendrache. This map is located in a medieval castle during a snowstorm, giving players an immersive feeling of being in a zombie apocalypse. In addition to the new Zombies map, Treyarch is presenting us with four new gumballs to enhance our experience while playing Zombies. Awakening is set to release February 2, 2016 on the PS4. The release date for the Xbox One and PC is still unknown to us. Season Pass holders will receive the DLC free of charge, however it is speculated to be around the twenty dollar range for people without one. >>Source

Battlefield 4 Presenting Players With One of The Most Diverse Easter Eggs of All Time.
We have seen many Easter Eggs in many different games, some easy to find and others difficult to find. This one, well, seems to take the cake according to the community. For two years Battlefield 4 has been on the shelves giving players an immersive, multiplayer and military experience. However, the community was determined to take it a step further by trying to uncover one of the most elaborate Easter Eggs in history. Players will have to make a trip to the map Dragon Valley, which is apart of the new Legacy Operations DLC which has been released just recently. Players will then have to solve morse code, go through a series of logic puzzles, switch maps, and many more steps. The best part is, this is all unique to the player, meaning no one can have the exact same number combinations as someone else making this much more challenging. So what is the reward of all of this? Well, it's a camo exclusive to DICE employees and of course the people who solve this Easter Egg. It is not very clear who originally had the suspicion of there being an Easter Egg, however, we do know that many members of the community contributed into solving this elaborate and diverse mystery. >>Source

Jack The Ripper DLC For AC: Syndicate is Now Live on PC
Assassin's Creed: Syndicate was not released too long ago, and creators, Ubisoft, already had their eyes set on a new DLC, named Jack The Ripper. It was announced in early December that Jack The Ripper would be coming to consoles on Dec. 15, and sure enough it did. However, Ubisoft had to tweak a few things before PC gamers were allowed access. Just before the DLC was set to release on Dec. 22, Ubisoft launched patch 1.31 fixing a bunch of visual issues along with the preparations for the new DLC. Just in time for Christmas, Jack The Ripper was released ready for gamers across the world to continue their adventures in Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. The DLC costs fifteen dollars for people who did not purchase the game's season pass. >>Source

Leadership Changes

• Armada is no longer a leader of Legends.
  
• _r00t was removed as leader of Royalty.
  

Site Group Recruitment

• Writers - Wiki Team Recruitment
  

Current Open Group Recruitments

• Axiom | Recruitment Phase | [Official]
  
• Echo | Lounge Recruitment | Join The Squad
  
• Enigma | Official Recruitment
  
• Prism | Official Recruitment | iOS Developers
  
• [Recruiting] Royalty [Official Group]
  
• [SPECIALISTS] General Recruitment
  
• Titans | Official Recruitment
  

Group Related Buy-ins & Informational Threads

• Axiom | Official Group | Re-brand Inc | Leader Spot | PP / BTC / WU [$1K]
  
• DARK - Official Group Information
  
• [Official Usergroup]Dawn
  
• Enigma | General Information
  
• Prism | Official Group Information
  
• Titans | Official Group
  
• The Black Lodge | How to join | Information
  

Group and Crew General Discussions Spotlight Threads

• ATTENTION - Group Owners - Revert The UB Style!
  

Group Sales Threads

• [FOR SALE] AnimeFAN! Offical User Group
  
• [FOR SALE] [Official User Group] Axiom | WU | BTC
  

Site Statistics

• Total (Click to View)
  • Posts: 49,124,984 ( +0.2% )
    
  • Threads: 3,395,305 ( +0.26% )
    
  • Members: 2,984,913 ( +0.27% )

• Average (Click to View)
  • Daily Posts: 13950.86 ( ~ )
    
  • Daily Threads: 964.22 ( +0.06% )
    
  • Daily New Members: 847.68 ( +0.07% )
    
  • Posts Per Member: 16.46 ( -0.06% )
    
  • Replies Per Thread: 13.47 ( -0.07% )

Ban Statistics

• Last Weeks Bans (Click to View)
  • Staff Bans: 94
    • ... Change from Last Edition: +50
  • Vacation Bans: 6
    • ... Change from Last Edition: ~
  • Combined Bans: 100
    • ... Change from Last Edition: +50

Forum Counts

• Tab Counts (Click to View)
  • Notable Sections
    • Lounge Threads: 448,177 ( +0.21% )
      
    • Lounge Posts: 6,365,775 ( +0.16% )
      
    • RANF Threads: 48,724 ( +0.21% )
      
    • RANF Posts: 632,253 ( +0.24% )
  • Common
    • Threads: 730,693 ( +3.38% )
      
    • Posts: 10,813,423 ( +0.21% )
  • Hack
    • Threads: 668,372 ( +0.16% )
      
    • Posts: 5,855,168 ( +0.15% )
  • Tech
    • Threads: 201,349 ( +0.16% )
      
    • Posts: 1,702,515 ( +0.14% )
  • Code
    • Threads: 159,829 ( +0.11% )
      
    • Posts: 1,378,687 ( +0.11% )
  • Game
    • Threads: 418,202 ( +0.18% )
      
    • Posts: 4,301,886 ( +0.14% )
  • Groups
    • Threads: 6,664 ( +0.3% )
      
    • Posts: 291,252 ( +0.34% )
  • Web
    • Threads: 77,292 ( +0.18% )
      
    • Posts: 561,678 ( +0.14% )
  • GFX
    • Threads: 127,957 ( +0.12% )
      
    • Posts: 960,242 ( +0.07% )
  • Market
    • Threads: 864,016 ( +0.26% )
      
    • Posts: 8,065,295 ( +0.26% )
  • Money
    • Threads: 128,444 ( +0.16% )
      
    • Posts: 1,695,511 ( +0.12% )

Membership Counts

• Groups (Click to View)
  • Null
    • 33 Members ( +2 )
    
    
  • Specialists
    • 36 Members ( -3 )
    
    
  • Red Lions
    • 23 Members ( ~ )
    
    
  • Dawn
    • 13 Members ( -1 )
    
    
  • Enigma
    • 11 Members ( +3 )
    
    
  • The Black Lodge
    • 114 Members ( +28 )
    
    
  • The Brotherhood
    • 29 Members ( -6 )
    
    
  • Echo
    • 43 Members ( +18 )
    
    
  • AnimeFAN!
    • 82 Members ( ~ )
    
    
  • DARK
    • 14 Members ( +3 )
    
    
  • Axiom
    • 55 Members ( +1 )
    
    
  • Prism
    • 7 Members ( -26 )
    
    
  • Titans
    • 29 Members ( +4 )
    
    
  • Royalty
    • 24 Members ( -8 )
    
    
  • Legends
    • 35 Members ( ~ )

BYE BYE!
2015.

HELLO!
2016.

Happy New Year!
It will soon be the year 2016 and if we actually take a moment to look back through 2015, it flew by. Let's make 2016 a great year for ourselves, our family, and friends. We'll have new technology, new movies, new everything. I don't know about you but I am excited. I might be jumping up and down at this very moment. Best of luck and may all your New Year resolutions come true!

[Hydra]

Battlestations is a quick section of the HF News featuring two battlestations, which is a picture of a computer/tech setup. Members of Hack Forums can take a high quality photo of their computer setup(please make sure it is a clear and quality photo) and send it to me in a PM by clicking here and including an IMGUR link of your battlestation. If there are no submissions for that week, I will grab two battlestations from /r/battlestations.

abangmuz's Battlestation (reddit)

(Click to View)

Twelch_g35's Battlestation (reddit)

(Click to View)

(1) (Click to View)

(2) (Click to View)

(3) (Click to View)

(4) (Click to View)

View Team (Click to View)

• Scholars
  • Vegas
    
  • Raptor.
    
  • Wires
    
  • MeshCollider

• Journalists
  • Headlines
    • Odus
  • User News
    • 630 & illuminati▲
  • Notable Threads
    • Trust & Grievous
  • Interviewers
    • .Sinister, Armada, Optimized, & Mugu
  • Group News
    • Nobility & Ariana
  • Site News
    • illuminati▲ & Hash G.
  • Security News
    • Harbo5 & -Hyperion
  • Gaming News
    • Limit.
  • Tech News
    • Аngel & Gladly
  • World News
    • Happeh & Phreakdaline
  • Art Gallery
    • iHydra
  • Comics
    • Wires

• Support
  • Graphic Designers
    • Designer
  • On-Call Team
    • Saged', ven0m, Wires, zer0 & Red Sоx
  • Task Reminder
    • -Nas
  • Supervisor
    • Froggy

[TheHackersLove]

TheHackersLove hit 1000 rep!>! 🎉

Nice addition.

[Normon the Prophet]

Really nice edition, great work guys keep it up!

[n3y4k0]

Is alexander even mentioned anywhere

[Silent Storm™]

Nice addition before the new year, thanks so much for your hardwork.

[Who Soup]

Looks great, have a amazing new years HFNT 🤝

[Armada]

Happy New Years Everyone
Wishing you all the best in 2016!

[⁠Cammy]

Is alexander even mentioned anywhere

Evidently not
As always a good release Hydra.

[Prince™]

Good read. Happy new year HF!

[minimalist]

Happy New Year to everyone who wrote this, must be a struggle to balance all this and being with family.

[Pornstache]

Thanks for your incredible work in 2015.

See you all in 2016. Happy new year everybody!

[virulence]

Have a great New Year everyone, entertaining addition of the news as always.