Friday, 23 March 2007

Microsoft Investigates Possible Xbox Live Fraud

Microsoft is probing the possibility of fraud on its Xbox Live online gaming service. "Recently, there have been reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network," a Microsoft representative said in a statement. "Security...

Microsoft is probing the possibility of fraud on its Xbox Live online gaming service. "Recently, there have been reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network," a Microsoft representative said in a statement. "Security is a top priority for Xbox Live, and we are actively investigating all reports of fraudulent behavior and theft", the representative continued.

Microsoft had released an update in the first week of March 2007 for the Xbox 360 that puts off hackers from running homegrown applications on the console. The procedure of putting data into non-privileged memory areas has been closed by the update, which puts a stop to many hackers from trying to enter the system.

However, Security experts believed this might lead to more hacks.

"Can an Internet-connected games console be an interesting addition to the available systems for a botnet?" SANS Internet Storm Centre handler Arrigo Triulzi asked readers today on the organisation’s blog.

“Is it worth my while to develop a new engine and virus to go after the Xbox 360s? Probably not, there are still plenty of Windows systems which will do just fine", he added.