OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas-based virtual reality company is suing a hacker after trying to hire the anonymous user to identify and fix security issues in its gaming software.
Orbus Online LLC has filed a copyright lawsuit against an unidentified hacker who goes by "Simian Dong," the Kansas City Star reported . The lawsuit lists the defendant as John Doe.
The company alleged discovering in January that a user had developed superpowers in the company's virtual reality game, OrbusVR. The cheat gave the user advantages over other players.
A video uploaded on the defendant's YouTube channel revealed the hacked powers in the game.
Orbus owner Riley Dutton contacted the hacker, offering to pay him to help protect the company's software, the lawsuit said. But the hacker declined the offer, attempting to negotiate with the company in exchange for a promise to not share the path into the software he created.
Orbus Online fixed its security protections to keep the hacker out of its software, but the defendant broke back in soon after, the lawsuit said.
The defendant also posted a copy of the company's game code and instructions online for others to repeat the hack, the lawsuit said.
Orbus Online is seeking a court order to prohibit the defendant and others from copying the game code by destroying existing copies and removing them from the internet.
The company declined to comment on the litigation.