"Interesting post - There's definitely enough potentially logical sounding in here to where I can see it taking hold.
What you're describing with file checks isn't security related - It's the way the patcher determines what files are out of date and need to be updated. It's a pretty standard thing in game patchers. If you dissect patchers for other MMOs, you'll see similar if not identical behavior.
Yep, there's some UI modding going on, and it's banned when its detected.
Our security improvement requests to XL are all more focused on the server - For one example: As the land grabbers recently found out: They can mod the UI to their hearts' content, but their attempts are now blocked and detected at the server. You'll find the hacker forums currently discussing and being upset about this, as much banning and mod breaking has occurred in the last few weeks.
To be quite frank, the real hackers aren't even using the game client - They contract out people to write null clients for them. That's been going on with MMOs since about 2002.
Real security is server focused: The worst of the worst aren't even running the game client, so focusing on what the client can or cannot do isn't terribly important - What's important is what the server lets any connected user do, no matter what piece of software they're using to connect, while, in parallel, we're making sure to act as rapidly as possible on people not running the legitimate game client."
This was a post by hartsman on the reddit. He could be bluffing about this, but be wary when using the one click house placement feature. It may put you on a watch list / autoban if used. Haven't attempted to use the feature yet but just a warning. He may also be talking about the distance to which you can be relative to where the land is being placed, not really sure.
