Has the Xbox 360 been hacked?

There are rumours swirling around the internet that the Xbox 360 is having serious security issues. But is there any truth to these rumours?

It seems there might be.

[xhedleyx]

I really hope my account doesn't get comprimised... that would suck.

[Winkle92]

Agreed. Though, as long as you are careful with your passwords, there shouldn't be a problem.

[Nitrowolf2]

Kind of a misleading title

Reports from October 2011 of accounts getting hacked
The author friend has their account hacked

Conclusion, Xbox Live is hacked :/

Pretty much going off by what some are saying. IDK, I always thought this kind of activity was normal even with PSN and any other service.

It depends though how it's taken. I mean if Sony didn't take down PSN and kept it running and all, then us PSN users might be the ones filling PS forums with our accounts have been hacked and such.

SO who knows.

[Stevo91]

Seriously accounts aren't randomly getting hacked, theses accounts are being hacked because of phising scam websites where people believe they are the real deal and type there email and password in thinking its real and then get hacked.

90% of these incidents are because of fifa ultimate team people thinking they are gonna get free coins and players (retards) or think they are logging into the real ultimate team app.

If you look on certain trading websites they sell them with msp on so u can buy packs of cards.

Rant over :)

[da_2pacalypse]

this happened to me. I lost my gamertag for a week or so, but I don't mind because Microsoft gave me a 2 months of live for free. They're rate of service was pretty good and i got all my points + more back. This problem isn't as bad as people are making it out to be. It was my fault that I didn't properly make a good password, it was just a phishing scam, I'll be more careful now :)

[LORD-PHOENIX]

the american media kept it quiet, millions was stolen from UK 360 live accounts...if you want more information google it, its all there despite the american medias attempt at a cover up,after the way they went after sony i guess they didnt want to be left with egg on their faces

it even made the best selling UKs paper 'sun' front page and was on all the UKs news channels about how worried gamers were

i even tried submitting the story yet n4g wouldnt submit it...

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

@LORD-PHOENIX

Here it is...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol...

Although I wouldn't assume a cover-up was going on (since I have nothing to back that up) I definetely see this news were well ignored on US.

[TheXgamerLive]

Hacked? NO.
Xbox LIVE has NOT been hacked. SONY and PSN now that was hacked.
Xbox LIVE NO.
Some people who are loose with their password with rhe implamentation of the cloud service can have their games memory/saves used but never hacked.

I know there's some silly fanboys who are still butt hurt over there ps3 being un playable for well over a month, but move on, it is what it is.

[LORD-PHOENIX]

if that was sony it would have been blown outta proportion and on n4g front page for weeks, you dont find it odd that millions were stolen from live gamers yet none of the american media reported it and n4g wouldnt publish my submission?

thanks for the link mate

[Brosy]

XBL has not been hacked. The people getting their account stolen are victims of a phishing scam. There is a huge difference. This article am fail.

MS isn't your username/password babysitter. They should do what they can to remedy what they can, but they aren't responsible for a persons ignorance.

Since PSN was hacked,it seems the internet will not be happy until XBL is actually hacked. Give it a rest already haters.

MODERATERS do your job, this story is crawling with sony fanboys foaming at the mouth. Fair is fair.

[BlackBusterCritic]

Even the Head of Policy Enforcement on XBL GOT HIS ACCOUNT HACKED. And that was last April. This shits been going on for quite a while now.

[SilentNegotiator]

But a lot of issues are happening with Xbox.com. That's just as bad as accounts being hacked via Xbox LIVE, because all of the important data can be accessed through there.

And getting things fixed quickly (eh, well...8 days) takes large public media attention.

@Stevo and brosy
Oh, so Pachter fell for a phishing website? I don't think so.
http://www.ripten.com/2011/...
The head of Xbox Security?
http://ingame.msnbc.msn.com...
....yes, the head of Xbox Security fell for a phishing website! Of course! /s

[CarlitoBrigante]

It took the media this long to write about the Live hack, Jeeze, whenever a mosquite shows up in the PSN server room the media are all over it.

[Mustang300C2012]

Wow some of you have no clue what the hell hacked means. Xbox Live was NOT hacked and hasn't been hacked. EMAILS that are associated to the gamertags have been hacked. The service itself was not hacked. Big difference with what happened to PSN.

[darthv72]

is this a new thing or just the same phishing issue being recirculated from site to site? I know that phishing scams happen on the web and for those that got caught up in it over 360 related stuff isnt the exact same as the 360 being hacked.

When I see a title like that I am thinking the network being hacked like psn. So far that doesnt seem to be the case and this is just a spreading the word like the next guy but all these stories need to give credit to where its due. To the original story they read before they wrote up a new blog about it.

If this IS something new than I stand corrected but even with all the flak about PSN you knew what it was about and sony was dealing with it. How can MS deal with something the individual got caught up in? Its the equal of clicking on a popup to get rid of it and now your pc is infected.

Not MS fault there but the individual who got scammed.

[JhawkFootball06]

Xbox Live was not hacked. The way people get their accounts hacked is

1) Phishing scams
2) Password Recovery Flaw

To sign up to xbox live you need to associate your windows live id (usually your email address) with your gamertag. When you sign up you fill out a answer to a question (we have all seen this) for when you forget your password you can answer that question to reset it. Some questions people pick are so easy as "What city was your mother born in?". Well you can get the location of the person by IP lookup and you have a city, if its not that city they try the surrounding cities. Not that hard as people think.

[gamingdroid]

@darthv72

Judging even just from the comments above, you can clearly see how much mis-information is going on and being perpetuated (either intentionally or not) further.

For instance @SilenceNegotiator claims Stepto's account was hacked, but it was the domain registrar that fell for a social engineering scheme:

"The Director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox LIVE, Stephen Toulouse, had his Xbox LIVE account hijacked yesterday. The attacker purportedly used social engineering to convince Network Solutions to transfer DNS control of Toulouse's stepto.com domain name, allowing the attacker to receive any email sent to that domain. The attacker most likely used this to reset Toulouse's Xbox LIVE password and gain unauthorised access to his account, where he goes by the gamertag of Stepto."

http://news.netcraft.com/ar...

Does he post that? Nope! He went ahead and assumed it was security issue with Xbox Live and relay mis-information!

However, it illustrates how you can loose your Xbox Live account multiple ways. If the hacker gets access to your email, game over!

It could be a myriad of things the user does that exposes their account etiher at Xbox Live or their email....

[da_2pacalypse]

wait... why am i getting disagrees for posting my experience? jeez this website is filled with PS3 trolls who do nothing but sit around and discuss what little other platforms have...

[NoobSessions]

Phishing =/= XBL has been hacked
Phishing = people are stupid and give out their information.

[disturbing_flame]

If xbox 360 has been hacked, i don't understand why microsoft doesn't cut the xbox live for the moment as Sony did with PS3 and their PSN.

Microsoft said since weeks that the Xbox live has not been hacked. So it would be regretfull for them if it's actually the case. Not because it has been hacked but more because they don't do anything to prevent more people from being hacked.

This story seems really weird for me now. The communication around some of those facts are really obscure, and no one seems to be able to say what is really happening. Really strange.

Anyway people have to wait until Microsoft talk about all this story and explain what is really happening.

[metsgaming]

dont think there is any need to shut down live because its a different situation than psn had. PSN was being hacked so they shut it down so they can patch it back up so they cant get it. It seems this is an exploit of their website login from what it seems. Just enter password a million times and your bound to get the right one. Usually you should be stopped after a certain number of fails but then it can be reset which seems to be the problem.

[PopRocks359]

Part of it is that Microsoft doesn't want widespread panic like there was for the PSN attack.

Incidentally from all of the stories I've heard, this attack has become much worse than the PSN attack but with far less news coverage or public scrutiny of the service company.

[arnyftw]

It hasent been hacked, its just a exploit with their website log in and if you have a weak password or have shared your email id then you have a higher of getting hacked. This has nothing to do with psn and the amount of users experiencing this is small. This is over hyped, although it is serious, all they need to do is change some code for the xbox website, which im not sure why they havent done this already.

[TBM]

pretty much doesnt affect me since i cancelled my live account 2-3yrs ago and wiped my credit info off the system.

[_Aarix_]

Cool story bro

[TBM]

always makes me laugh when people get so sensitive because they worship plastic and wires lol.

[ps3dude44]

wow, that sucks. my friends account just got hacked today. sucks for him

[GraveLord]

Yah "your friend".

I kinda find it hard to believe since your username is ps3dude44.

[Snookies12]

GraveLord - Just because his name is ps3dude, does that mean he can't have friends with an Xbox, or even own one himself?

[Muffins1223]

most of this "hacked xbox" bullshit is just from a person guessing the person password by finding out the users email and username and searching for them to find other accounts with same email to help[ find password which Microsoft is fuckin stupid to allow person to guess the password unlimited times.....

[mynd]

They have now changed the unlimited log in attempts. Its about all they can do really.

[StraightPath]

Hacked? because of your friend probably gave detail to someone thinking the would get COD prestige back in return, Mostly how people get stolen accounts on XBL

[TheOneYouHate]

I don't Play call of duty, nor do I play online, I'm more into RPG's. The only time I "play online" is when my friends come over and want to use my 360. I am also not the type to fall for "Phishing" scams. I'm 30 years old so I'm not that dumb lol

[Nes_Daze]

maybe because most people playing COD on xbox360 are kids who don't know much.

[BreakNeckSpeed]

Watch as all the ps3 kiddies jump on this with a grain of salt :L
It's just a blog site spreading misinformation. If Xbox live was hacked like psn we would know it. A few dispersed incidents do to with phishing scams doesn't mean a service is "hacked".

[sGIBMBR]

I like the way you use the term "You Bots" it sounds like you belong to a cult or something and Xbox owners are your sworn enemy!

Laughable!!

It seems like most of the users on this site remain hopeful that the rumors are true! Are people really that sad?!

I think you have to be quite a flawed human being to have nothing else better to do other than pray for the opposite system of your choice to get hacked!

[undisputed]

Who the hell is jumping around? Hacking is bad -doesn't matter who it happens to. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen.

[Goozex]

I would check daily and this IS severe! Ms are masterminds through the media and can twist and alter to their advantage. I'm not getting on till this clears up also thinking about withdrawing my live memborship permenently. Just not worth it.

[Pushagree]

Yes.

[Krew_92]

If this is true, why do people have to ruin everyone's fun by pulling stunts like these?

[PopRocks359]

Because we allow it?

[Fel08]

Oh no, u have got to be kidding me.

[ziggurcat]

if this is true and people just simply shrug their shoulders and say, "oh well, that stuff happens, i guess", then they're all f***ing hypocrites.

[ps3dude44]

yep

[Ravenor]

Phishing, Social Engineering and Keyloggers are different from breaking into a database of log in information and credit card information, copying them and then breaking whatever encryption they were locked in.

What happened to Sony is different from Xbox Live, phishing scams happen in lots of different games and services.

[THR1LLHOUSE]

Some people having their accounts hacked doesn't exactly equal Xbox Live being hacked, a la PSN, does it?

[SSKILLZ]

So what, accounts are still beign hacked and that's a security issue that needs to be taken care of no matter how small, yeah PSN hack was monumental no sh!t .

[THR1LLHOUSE]

And those accounts being hacked are accounts being hacked. Not Xbox Live.

The headline of this article makes it sound like this is on par with the PSN hack, which it doesn't seem to be. It's a little fear-mongery.

[Ravenor]

Problem is the security issue is on the users end, no one is hacking into the network and force ably removing the account info. This is why it's not widespread, and this is why MS hasn't taken XBL down.

[N311V]

The first I heard of PSN getting hacked was after Sony shut down the network. My hunch is that XBL has not been hacked but rather individual accounts. I don't know anything about hacking, is there even a difference between hacking XBL account versus the whole XBL network?

[thatdude75]

yeah theres a difference between the two. individual XBL account hacks can effect anyone that gives out their info to websites that they think is creditable. such as sites that promote MS live points. which only affects that user cause that info is tide to that account. no one elses

a network hack is due to piss poor security where hacker have access to the whole network. such as yours and everyone info that uses the service is effected.everyone is affected

this is why this is very different from the PSN hack. yet sonyfanboys want this to be on the same level or even worst. i honestly think they are getting desperate cause it's not getting the kind of exposure as they would like for it to get.

[N311V]

You may be right however if it is true that the accounts are being by a method other than phishing MS could have a big problem on their hands. Only time will tell.

[Series_IIa]

"The Xbox 360 got hacked"

That thing got hacked years ago, this is about Xbox Live here...

Try to keep the title in relation to the article body...

Also, all your article suggests is that Xbox Live users are gullible to phishers, over 2 million people in the US alone fall victim to bank account phishing techniques each year... But I suppose the banks just got hacked too yeah?

Also, just look at how many idiots were going round forums and claiming they got money taken from their accounts when PSN went down turns out CC was encrypted after all, and when it was said that all CC info was encrypted, all of the messages suddenly stopped...

[STK026]

Well, it sucks if it is indeed being hacked. However, we must all remember that in the past, many reports of XBL being hacked were actually stories about phishing. Well, let's just hope this ends soon; and best of luck to those who were affected.

[LightofDarkness]

This is really a rumour piece, not news. The headline states it as though it's factual and confirmed, when it is unconfirmed and the evidence is akin to "my friend's ex-girlfriend says...", ie. purely anecdotal.

I'm no Xbox fanboy, but let's not all go crazy here until we hear from MS.

[TheEerieCold]

I agree, this article is nothing but hearsay. The title is misleading, among other things...

[radphil]

"I'm no Xbox fanboy, but let's not all go crazy here until we hear from MS."

As much as I want to believe that, I doubt they would admit to those having their accounts hijacked like with what happened to me.

Granted they were able to recover all the points taken from me, I can never get those Fifa achievements cleared off my name. :(

[Ravenor]

lol, you got phished. It's okay, it happens to lots of people. It's not a matter of MS admitting people are getting their accounts compromised, it's about you admitting you let your account get stolen.

[radphil]

@Ravenor

Right...tell the IT guy what happened to him...Even considering that they didn't implement a simple security check until recently, where as companies like Valve for example has that set up where they send a code before you can sign in on a different machine.

[metsgaming]

This is far worse than the psn issue. At least there no one had their account stolen or money stolen. Its worse but barely recognized and is swept under the rug. MS will fix it quietly and act like nothing was ever going on. I just dont understand how people overreacted about psn but are ignoring or brushing aside this issue. U would think the psn issue would get ms to tighten their security, guess not. From what i hear its a very basic scheme and they have yet to fix it.

Credit card numbers were encrypted from psn. People get charges on their credit cards all the time and to say its because on one this is just being paranoid. Here there are more than a couple of people and it because ppl got directly into their account. I guess some people have short memory spans and dont get facts straight.

[LightofDarkness]

PSN users reported hundreds of dollars being stolen from them. These reports are as substantiated as those made here. Confirmation bias confirmed.

[k2d]

Any official statements on your rumor, there? Any proof the thieveries are linked to the PSN hacking?

I see only idiots using one password.

[LightofDarkness]

http://www.onehitgamer.com/...

Just as much proof as these stories have (if not a little more due to pictorial evidence), and the customer's data was obtained through the acquiring of PSN login data by hackers in April last year.

Some more:
http://www.exiledservers.ne...

A simple Google search would provide this information, but I'm sure you weren't actually interested in the evidence at all so much as "sticking it" to me, were you?

Besides, you've utterly missed the point (as is often the case when dealing with fanboys). The point is that these claims are as solid and proven as the claims made by PSN users that their money was stolen last year; which, as we all know, turned out to be a load of BS in most cases.

[Ravenor]

But at the same time you are missing the point too, how funny. Yeah, XBL accounts are being exploited with the intent to charge money to the credit cards. How people are getting their accounts hijacked is very different from PSN, it's people using their email and password on a site that is logging email addy's and passwords, bogus MS websites or websites promising free points or games are often the culprit.

When PSN was hacked someone used a computer and literally hacked into the network database housing all of our account info and CC info. Can't you see these are different things? Or are you really so hung up on getting some perceived victory?

[LOL_WUT]

I wonder what Microsoft have to say about all this.

[KingOfArcadia]

Happened to me over the weekend, but luckily enough I had an old expired credit card on file, so instead of taking a huge hit to the pocketbook, I'm only out the few MS points in the account. I noticed it because I had racked up 2 achievements for FIFA 12, which I don't own. The rep I spoke to confirmed that this was happening a lot, but otherwise we didn't discuss it much - we both knew what had happened.

[Queefy_B]

Theres also alot of phising scams to get details of accounts, theres been quite a few reports of people getting live points used/stolen.

[Glasscocked]

Ridiculous flamebait. Nothing to see move along.

[jacksons98]

I just hope this isn't another one of those cases where gamers have to prove there is a problem like the RROD before MS decides to fix it.

[hellvaguy]

Or the ongoing YLOD that hasnt been fixed. So ya.

[drsnobby]

This is another failed attempt at journalism on N4G.1st and formost the title of this piece is misleading.2nd,is the author trying to say XBL been hacked?if XBL ever gets hacked congress will ask MS alot of tough questions.the XBL accounts that was stolen was due to phishing scams,not stolen over the XBL network.

these kind of articles are nothing but flame-bate with no truth or merit and is mere journalistic filth on N4G.shame on this poorly researched article and shame on the moderators for letting this filth poison this gaming site.

[Ravenor]

The moderators should be aware how gullible some people can be, this is just going to mislead the people who WANT to be mislead by this.

You know who I mean. It's phishing guys, get over it. Never use the same password twice and strengthen things like secret questions. Your mothers birthplace or maiden name is a SHITTY secret question.

[FrigidDARKNESS]

I find this story hard to believe it's nothing but propaganda and fudd spreading.

[thatdude75]

well what do you expect from the sonyfanbase. when your system is in last place and their most hyped exclusives don't sell as you want it to and the two weaks consoles is kicking your console of choice azz what are you going to result to. making up lies and propaganda in hopes that people will stop buying the 360 and paint MS in a negative light as people saw sony with it's hack.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Do I think this is XBL being hacked? no. Do I think this is an issue with EA's Fifa12's system and XBL? Yes. Clearly all fingers point back to Fifa 12 at this point. If nothing else EA should be shouldering some of the blame here. MS should absolutely shut down the point gifting in Fifa on the 360 version as that is where things are being exploited. Why isn't EA answering or responding to their game being a vehicle for theft?

edit: It looks like this isn't just an XBLA thing... PSN accounts are popping up too: http://community.eu.playsta...

http://community.us.playsta...

[drsnobby]

I agree!! we all know what the problem is,but the shame of it all is this article of lies and propaganda.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

I don't think the article is lying or trying to spread propaganda. I think clearly there is some misinformation out there about the root cause of this though. Many are jumping to the conclusion its gotta be MS as that clearly has been the focus of most of the account attacks. But its pretty obvious to me the root cause of this is EA.

EA created an ecosystem in FIFA 12 that absolutely cries out to be abused given the popularity of this competitive game. In game cards that help boost your team that can be bought with real world money and traded?!?! All because they knew FIFA fans would buy up their DLC with real world money so they stick it to us.

All I can say is to anyone with an XBL or PSN account...DO NOT put any kind of credit card up on their. You can buy points, XBL gold, PSN Plus, etc... all from redeamable code cards on Amazon or in stores, etc... if you have no paypal account linked, or credit card online then you will be safe.

[Vega75]

have a bub+ for that post.

i was starting to think sonyfanboys was really wishing that XBL was hacked. now i just feel sorry for them at their pathetic attemps to make this into something worst than what happened to PSN. sony had weak ass security on their network which resulted in everyone's info being compremised. even when people was saying their CC was charged sonyfanboys dismissed it. now they want to tar and feather MS for a few hacked accounts. sad just sad

it's funny how you posted some links to people having their accounts hacked on PSN and sonyfanboys still gives you disagrees. it just shows how pathetic they really are.

i wonder what their excuse for these ps3 owners that have their accounts hack. will there be article on this new hack to psn users or will they fail it because it puts sony in a more negative light.

[ironwolf]

Happened to me the week after Christmas. Fortunately, it only took ten days to get everything fixed up and my stolen points returned. If you check the forums at xbox.com though, you'll find scads of people that have been trying for months to get their stolen accounts back.

The guy that found and reported the security flaw in the Live website last week is reporting that the site is, since this past weekend, locking you out after 20 password attempts, where as before, you could run a script without being stopped. Apparently, MS has attempted to plug the hole without ever admitting one existed.
And incidentally, I was not phished. I used a 12 character alpanumeric password unique to my live account which had an email address used for only the account in question. My gamer tag does not appear on any other websites other than those linked directly into xbox.com (i.e. forzamotorsports.net) and I have no EA games.

[Why o why]

wow. I cant see why you'd lie. These things do happen but whether this will get as much media attention as you know what is debatable. I mean why change the lockout unless there was an issue. nobody is unhackable

Seems the media has kept a lid on it. Ms may not say anything until they fully know. same thing sony was lambasted for but ms may choose to stay quiet like they did with red ring. I'm sure we all remembered what they were saying. I've always used top ups never my cards but whatever the outcome I hope its over swiftly

[FlareDReborn]

That sucks for Microsoft xbox users i hope this gets fixed soon..No one should have to through that.

[IM_KINECTED]

This article title and picture seem awfully console war inducing. We know PSN was hacked, but it seems like people here wont be satisfied until XBL is hacked as well.

This kind of attitude sickens me as a gamer, we shouldn't want that at all.

As for XBL being "hacked" that term is so overused due to Hollywood and movies and television shows. Phishing is something evident in lots of cases like this. I haven't ever had a issue with XBL in the 7 years I've been a member and I use it every day.

These are rumors, yet the title of this article is stating as fact.

PSN, XBL, Gamebattles accounts, even N4G accounts are susceptible to phishing.

Let's not get into a wishing war simply because a hack happened to one, we don't and shouldn't want anyone's console to be hacked.

[drsnobby]

I agree with you also fellow gamer,but what angers me is these kinds of wishing articles that crop up daily on N4G.the moderators has a duty to push truthful artcles to the front page,not these articles of innuendos and lies.

[ironwolf]

You people are aware that the weakness that was found in the Live login process has been being reported and commented on in the gaming and mainstream media for about 5 days now, right? Oh, I forgot. This is N4G, where any bad news about the console of choice is actively suppressed. Ah yes, I love the smell of censorship in the morning.

http://www.myce.com/news/mi...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...

[metsgaming]

your right and people are ignoring the facts. Your post before this had great info and no one will read it. You said someone stated that they fixed the problem what site was the forums on? There are like a million different xbox sites with forums i could find the right one. If what you said is true then they have noticed there was a problem and fixed it. Thus showing they lied that nothing was wrong since they fixed the problem and someone noticed that it was fixed.

What ironwolf posted is the real problem not a hack to entire system or a phishing scam. It was their web site !

[ironwolf]

Here is a bit more info on the problem and what was done over the weekend, from Kotaku:

http://kotaku.com/5876674/m...

[Ddouble]

Can they really have gotten that much accounts by brute force and if it was just that then Microsoft could have just enforced a stronger password for everyone on Live.

You said you used a 12 character alphanumeric password for your account. It would take a very long time for someone to obtain it by brute force.

[Ddouble]

PSN got hacked yet Sony is going to have their best year sales wise. Microsoft had a design fault that caused the RROD and it too just had it's best year.

Exploit, hole, hack, whatever it is, I don't know but the quicker Microsoft acknowledges it and let the public know, the faster it will become old news just like the PSN hack and RROD. If they let it linger for too long I think it could be worse especially with next gen not too far off IMO.

[hellvaguy]

In make believe land, how do you acknowledge something that doesnt exit? Or maybe you wait until all the facts come in before you determine the problem?

[Ddouble]

Of course it exists, people are getting their accounts hacked and this has been since summer last year. How could Microsoft of all companies not know by now how it's happening. I'm sure they've collected all the facts they need.

The quicker they can get it behind them the better it will be for them. That's what I'm trying to say

[Mustang300C2012]

Ddouble,

People are getting their accounts HACKED THROUGHT THEIR EMAIL. Not through the service. LEARN the difference. Use common sense. You hacked into the bank network to get the accounts. They didn't hack into Live. They hacked into the individual who owns the email address that is associated to their gamertag. That doesn't mean Live was hacked itself.

[Why o why]

Dude. Hacked is hacked. ms has gone some way to fixing the issue but that proves they could of prevented it or at least knew there was an issue. I left these articles but the more reports I see coming up the more I look into it. Seems there's an issue. Whether its comparable is kinda irrelevant

[MizTv]

remember you get what you pay for!

[BitbyDeath]

Does anyone else remember the RROD fiasco?
This is exactly how it also went down.
First comes the denial stage.
Both MS and users were in denial when RROD began, MS blamed end users for the broken machines and everyone accepted it while in this case MS again is blaming everyone by saying users were unknowingly giving out there own information.

When will you guys learn. History is literally repeating itself and you all just seem too stubborn to admit it.

You have to fight your own battles noone else will.

[Valenka]

Fact.

[kaveti6616]

You could use that logic to validate every rumor spread about Microsoft, so it doesn't work.

Microsoft has a right to address the rumors, and deny those rumors if they are slanderous or libelous. Are you saying that just by denying the rumors they are confirming them?

[BitbyDeath]

Rumours are generally when something comes from one person and everyone reports about it.This is coming from multiple 360 owners and accounts are actually being compromised.

MS should be kept on their toes so that they perform a proper investigation rather than sweeping it off to the side.

It took over a year for MS to accept that the RROD was their problem, how long it takes this time is up to 360 owners.

[kaveti6616]

They are performing an investigation.

They're denying the rumors while they investigate the situation to see if the rumors have any merit. There's a good reason to deny rumors, and that's money. Toyota of America denied rumors that there was a major flaw in their Toyota Corollas while they investigated the situation. When they discovered the rumors were true, they recalled their vehicles. Microsoft did the same thing when the RROD rumor became popular. They publicly denounced the rumors while the launched an investigation into the matter. It bought them some time. Sony did the same thing when the rumors of exploding Vaio batteries started cropping up. They denied the rumors while they investigated the situation, then they recalled the batteries.

Now, this isn't to say that these rumors are true. Microsoft has a right to deny rumors that have the potential of hurting their public image while they investigate. If the rumor turns out to be true (if their servers were hacked), then they can do something about it.

There are 40 million XBL accounts out there. Even if there are a thousand, or two thousand or ten thousand cases of people's accounts being compromised, it is still not substantial enough to blame the company since phishing is so rampant on the internet. You have to prove that Microsoft's servers have been hacked, that their 1024 bit encryption has been cracked (which is very very very difficult to do by the way).

So there's absolutely nothing wrong with denying unsubstantiated rumors while you investigate the issue. Unfortunately the people on this website are very selective with what they remember and what they forget. Most companies follow the exact same protocol for situations like these. Now your only response is to backpedal and argue that Microsoft isn't investigating the rumors, which is a claim you can't substantiate.

[BitbyDeath]

There is a difference between saying nothing or even stating nothing has been found so far to believe there is an issue but blamming others, that is the problem where your examples fall short.

Also why do you think MS are looking into the issue? You are going in circles around my point.
Which is users should not ignore that it could potentially be an issue and instead keep on MS to investigate.

[KontryBoy706]

glad I left an expired credit card on there. Microsoft wouldn't let me remove my cc info back then so I didn't bother using an active cc with them anymore.

[SITH]

Wishful thinking does not make it so.

[BitbyDeath]

Denial does not make it go away.
Why would so many people be making up stories of their account getting hacked?

[BattleTorn]

Well... that has been a "Xbox Live hacked" article once a month for the last 3-months.

[PirateThom]

The articles have been appearing more frequently and Microsoft acknowledged a problem with their website sign in. All people were doing was taking a Live ID, running password loggers and gaining access... there was no Captcha or lock out from too many attempts...

To me, the major difference here is PR.

Not the end of the world, they could just take the complaints a bit more seriously in light of what happened with PSN... people have pretty much forgiven Sony due to their PR over the situation.

[Valenka]

People claiming its customers' faults for clicking on false websites ought to shut up, considering the fact that I and other victims haven't done such, and were randomly targeted and MS Points were stolen.

[duplissi]

yeah, thats a bit of bs, considering im not exactly a layman when it comes to computers.... working on my computer science degree.

10000ms points worth of cash stolen from me too.

[Hicken]

Sorry, disagreed on mistake.

It's funny to see how you and others will flat out tell your story of how you HAVEN'T been phished out of your information, yet all the fanboys can say is "People are stupid and should be more careful with their login information."

That mentality pisses me off more than anything. And to make it worse, they approve of MS either saying nothing, or saying it's consumers' faults. I don't know about you, but I don't care what company it is: I want to know what's going on when it happening. And if they don't know, then I want to know that, too.

[Krakn3Dfx]

Just like in the case of the PSN breach, if this is true, hopefully it'll be resolved in a way to not cause people a lot of financial problems.

People love to use these situations as a reason to pit one console against another, this is not about MS or Sony, this is about the assholes who go out of their way to constantly push the boundaries of security for their own personal and financial gain.

Hopefully either way, MS will make a concrete statement. A lot of companies get hacked, information stolen, and never say a word. It's more common than not.

[Knightofelemia]

Thing is its been happening even before 2011 my account was hacked i phoned Microsoft and they told me its virtually un hackable I told them if I can plug anything into the internet it can get hacked. I admire Sony for taking quick action when the PSN got hacked but in my eyes Microsoft its just sweeping this under the rug. And it will eventually kick them in the arse with customer loyalty,

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

It amazes me now the tables are turning on 360 gamers... yet the cheek is turned...

So many hypocrites... guess just cause it happened to people in the UK and not here... it don't matter!

"As long as it's not me, it's all good"

What a damn joke!

[Vortex3D]

The question if Live is hacked, how many gamers rather deal with potential getting hacked with Live running than have Live shut down for weeks like PSN?

And for Microsoft to admit Live is hacked isn't going to be good in front of the media.

[urwifeminder]

Doesnt appear to be a big as you guys want it to be.

[Allowen]

Well, Microsoft needs to say some thing about it.

As far as I can remember when PSn got hacked it had a few thousands and maybe millions of user's info stolen.
Either way Sony ended putting the network down just in case things were worst then they thought at the time.

Now it seems that a "few " users at Xbox 360 Live got hacked and data stolen from then but this is not a hack on the system like it what happened at the PSN ?

A hack is a hack even if you "steel" just a few hundred of users from 70 million users.

This is the way Microsoft deals with hacks on its systems it seems. By staying quiet.
When my e-mail account and many others users where hacked from hotmail, MS also stayed quiet and said that nothing was wrong...

When many japonese and EA , Steam forum sites were hacked in 2011 they all came to public and said that.
But Microsoft 's policies = stay quiet because it is better for us.

[ChronoJoe]

Happened to a couple of my friends.

They got an apology and reimbursement. The hacker spent everything on their XBLA accounts and tried to use their cards (didn't in either case for whatever reason) so they got a reimbursement and something like a free game? or something like that. I can't really remember. I remember they got something free and I said it was shitty.

[CaptainSplatch]

My account was hacked on 1/13/12 Microsoft returned it to me today. They spent over 2000 points i had on there and attempted 6000 points worth of purchasing. They were able to purchase some points with my credit card. The xbox live investigations team said it could take up to 2 months for me to get that back. Remember to go into your settings and require a password when logging in from another console. After reading this article i reviewed my game history and Fifa 12 was on there with 2 achievements earned. I have never played a Fifa game.

[Enjoigamin]

says the guy who joined 20 minutes ago....grow up get a life

[DOOMZ]

The MS web site had some issues, not the console...

[T3MPL3TON]

Who the hell keeps green lighting these 'stories?' It's old news and it has zero to do with Xbox Live.. for christ sake, it's a password recovery flaw.. news flash this flaw exists in every major email host especially gmail & yahoo.

[duplissi]

yup happened to me sadly, fifa 12 showed up as a recent game and a purchase of 10000 ms points was made... took 3 weeks to get my money back and all ms did for me was give me a month of xbl.

[CrimsonEngage]

My pass is 20 character long and contains random nubmers and letter. I have it written down so i don't forget.

[BrianC6234]

Where's the uproar by Congress over this? When PSN got hacked Congress was all over Sony. At least Sony was working on their problem. Still nothing from Microsoft. They must come out and tell their customers what's going on. If it's a bug in the one game that's bad too because it means a game can let people hack Xbox Live accounts.

[YodaCracker]

It's scary... N4G is beginning to remind me of FOX News. One article after another bashing Microsoft. The majority of N4G's "viewers" are so delusional and biased against Microsoft and the Xbox 360 that it is almost frightening. Comments containing indisputable facts are instantly brought down with disagrees because they don't fit the Sony PS3 God-like worship agenda. Your average phishing scam is completely blown out of proportion, comparing it to the huge PSN hack; an actual hack and not users giving out their passwords to scam emails, or something similar. Sometimes I think N4G must just be one giant act; these comments are posted by paid actors to make PS3 users look nutty. The PS3 fanboys here at N4G make the worst PS3 fanboys from other sites look tame.

[Bladesfist]

I know it seems wrong but just let it happen, It doesn't matter how biased this site gets. Just laugh and dont comment.

[kerrak]

Despite the psn being so huge as it was, there hasn't been credible reports of stolen psn credit, cc use or whatever, and sony reacted publicly, quickly, and aggresively, shutting down their net for a lot of time. The thing was absolutely in every gaming article in the whole world.

Now, xbox gets a relatively minor hack, but it is one that in fact has had consequences on credits of a rather big amount of people, and MS didn't state anything.
Check the facts here, more than 500 posts since november
http://www.neogaf.com/forum...

YOU remind me of Fox News.

[Zephol]

i cant believe!!

[Bladesfist]

Not sure if this phising, lies or real hacking.

[PAYNEinc85]

If it was simply a phishing scam why has it taken so long for something like this to happen? My account was compromised last week. they took 2150 microsoft points. And what do ya know? I now have 2 Fifa 12 achievements and have never played the game. Defend microsoft all you want. You'll soon see it's not a phishing scam.

[Irish_Fella]

I'm almost certain it's down to EA, a few months ago EA/Origin got hacked and hundreds of thousands of accounts were compromised, I'm going to guess that some people use the same password for various websites, because I was stupid enough to do that, my XBL/WindowsLive password was the same as my EA/Origin, they were the only accounts the hacker got into, my e-mail address was untouched, thankfully, because I changed my password a few months ago, and guess what, it was previously the same as my XBL/EA password.

If I hadn't of changed it I'm convinced he, the hacker, would have deleted my account and my e-mail address.

[Firedevil401]

To all the people saying this is a phishing scam , that is not necessarily true. Never once have I ever used my password to do anything but sign into my Xbox, i haven't even singed into Xbox.com.\

My Wife's account was stolen on thanksgiving , mine was stolen the next afternoon... Spending $130 on both accounts.Though when my account was stolen i had a friend message my screen name when it had sighed on, the person said they had the account giving to them then gave me the information to get my account back. which actually did work, but i logged in long enough to close everything down, i will not be returning to Xbox live. Took Microsoft a month to give us our money back, My bank said it had to be reversed by the merchant.....so screw my bank to..

[nathanhale]

Bu..bu...but Xbox can't be hacked. lmao at people who thought so