How Video Games Could Send You To Jail (Or Get You Out)

Security consultant Brandon Nesbit is due to give a presentation at the DEFCON security conference in which he will tout why video games could be an untapped goldmine for police investigations.

The key lies in that modern consoles now hold a wealth of information from game saves to video and photo files. Add an internet connection to the mix and the data becomes even more useful. Nesbit explains;

“For example, if someone is trying to prove that Suspect A was running an attack against a World of Warcraft server, there will be logs to indicate that fact within World of Warcraft.”

Conversely, if you find yourself in court on charges of, say, burglary, you could use the fact that you were preoccupied with Super Street Fighter 4 on the evening in question and you earned an achievement in the process. You would then be able to use Capcom’s servers and Sony/Microsoft’s trophy/achievement data as evidence to support your case.

It essentially means that consoles could soon be treated in a similar way to PCs in a criminal investigation, which in turn suggests that the days of video game consoles being regarded as ‘just toys’ could well be numbered.

Brandon Nesbit will make his presentation on 1st August 2010.

Source: SecurityWatch, via: Kotaku