Latest XBL Exploit Takes Aim at User's Credit Cards

[Zer0Saber]

first the major bank and store E-mail theft, then PSN, now this, that's a lot of shit in a short time. (FUCK)

 

[ultimateownage]

Latest XBL Exploit Takes Aim at User's Credit Cards

Microsoft has posted a Service Alert, warning Xbox Live users that their credit cards have been compromised by hackers through a Modern Warfare 2 exploit.

"Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2," the warning reads.

What Microsoft hasn't said is how to know if you've been hacked, how to prevent it from happening and why this is happening now. However, a quick glance at recent posts on the Xbox.com forum unveils statements from individual XBL users who have been attacked - some who have been hit as far back as a month ago and are still waiting for Microsoft to respond.

Also, it seems Modern Warfare 2 isn't the only game that hackers are using to access user information.

"I was de-ranked and my points are now in the negative in Call of Duty 4," XBL user PIOAKADRAMAFREE wrote [http://forums.xbox.com/36352860/ShowPost.aspx]. "I had a 55 gold cross [rank] and my score on the leaderboard was 55k. After getting hacked, I have a 1 gold cross and a negative score. The player and I exchanged private messages and within those messages he demanded that $10 be paid to him through Paypal to unhack my account."

This news comes following Sony's recent announcement [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109568-Sony-Admits-Private-PSN-Info-Has-Been-Stolen-All-Of-It] that 77 million Playstation Network users' accounts, including credit card information, have been accessed by cyber criminals.

Internet-capable consoles have seen their fair share of exploits and hackers over the years, but mostly good things have come from these communities: doing crazy things in Linux-enabled PS3s, making homebrew games for the Wii and letting PSP users get rid of their discs and run their PS1 games before Sony did. However, this past week suggests a much darker presence that hackers can have on console gaming.

Xbox Live has seen its fair share of phishing scams in the past, but these attempts relied on pretending to be Xbox support and tricking users into giving their information through email. These recent Call of Duty cyber-attacks are the first time users have had their information accessed in-game, via hackers' modded Xbox 360s.

Stay tuned for updates but, for now, you might want to avoid playing any Call of Duty titles online. Excuse me but I have to get back to obsessively checking my bank account...

Source: Xbox.com [http://support.xbox.com/en-gb/Pages/xbox-live/xbox-live-status.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0]

Permalink

Ooh, a new news room guy. Welcome!
O.T.
This is hilarious. Everyone but me, someone without a PS3 who also dislikes Modern Warfare, seems to be getting hacked now.

 

[Littaly]

Well, at least you only have to cancel that card once...

 

[Doclector]

Crap, I've been playing cod recently as well. At least I didnt give my bank details to Microsoft and so far I haven't received any messages.

Here's hoping we get an all clear by the time the new map pack comes out, I want-I need, my badass Robert englund zombie killing action.

I need it.

Also, can anyone give me a clear idea of what kind of stuff I need to look out for? I'm not good with technology, and I'm paranoid, so I want to be on my guard.

 

[Vibhor]

This is totally Microsoft's fault
Now where are those guys who called the security in PS3 incompetent?

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Uhm, what? This doesn't exactly sound like our info was compromised. It sounds like some games were compromised and the responsible parties are demanding $10 to fix their targets accounts. If they had the CC info, why would they do this "Give us $10 and we'll fix your stats" nonsense if they could just take your info and go buy themselves some stuff on their own.

I think this author needs to do some more research and learn the difference between phishing and hacking. How you get "Microsoft has posted a Service Alert, warning Xbox Live users that their credit cards have been compromised by hackers through a Modern Warfare 2 exploit." from "Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2." is beyond me.

Anyone who still supports hackers after this week... can... go away...

Anyone who thinks all hackers are evil after this week... can.... go away...

Let me ask you this, would you hate anyone who still supports the police after a week of stories about dirty cops? If you answered yes, at least you're consistent in your ignorance. But if you answered no, maybe it's time to think about why (which should be "not all cops are dirty just because some of them are") and start applying that reason to other groups.

Who said anything about hating people? Im saying anyone who still thinks hackers are always the always the good guys, taking from the rich and giving to the poor, are a bit naive as this clearly isnt the case. And the fact you compare them to the police kind of shows you think that.
Im not saying ALL hackers are bad, far from it but people seem to think even now, that the hackers are still the good guys in all this.

 

[Baldry]

OH SWEET GOD WHAT GAMING HELL IS THIS!!!

Anyway yeah tragic, I'm pretty sure the worlds heading towards an apocalypse.

 

[spartandude]

This is totally Microsoft's fault
Now where are those guys who called the security in PS3 incompetent?

here i am

 

[spartandude]

Its as the myans predicted natural disasters and online gaming hacks REPENT!

 

[Grey_Focks]

...huh? I might just be missing something, but this doesn't seem like nearly as big a deal as the Sony incident. Just looks like some people hacked others' CoD profiles, dicked up their stats, and are black mailing them to fix them. Then again, I probably did just miss something... anywho, I only ever used prepaid cards on XBL, so I'm good. Now if steam gets hacked, there will be hell to pay.

 

[Leviathan_]

EVERYTHING GETTIN' HACKED!



What dark wizardry is at work here?

 

[fundayz]

Wait a second.... People DIDN'T know the Escapist exaggerates their headlines?

 

[Vibhor]

...huh? I might just be missing something, but this doesn't seem like nearly as big a deal as the Sony incident. Just looks like some people hacked others' CoD profiles, dicked up their stats, and are black mailing them to fix them. Then again, I probably did just miss something... anywho, I only ever used prepaid cards on XBL, so I'm good. Now if steam gets hacked, there will be hell to pay.

I guess everyone is like you and never used credit cards to purchase the oh so much stuff on the Xbox live market or even just to pay for their subscriptions.
Its like paying to be punched in the stomach only to be kicked in the balls later.

 

[The Sane]

I know the article was specifically set up to get as many knee jerk reactions as possible, but its still depressing to see how many people are falling for this exaggerated piece of 'news'.

Phishing scams are not hacking.
Phishing scams are not news.
The only hacking here that has occurred is on the games rankings database/server (which is also nothing new).

 

[bomblord]

Uh, what?

Since when does "Users may receive potential phishing attempts" equal "their credit cards have been compromised by hackers" or even "you've been hacked"?

Phishing is commonplace; the only notable factor here is that it's being executed in a relatively closed environment. It's hardly the same as being directly hacked, and it's not an immediate compromise of your credit card details; it only works if you fall for it.

I hate to be one of those people waving the "bad journalism" banner, but this article makes a lot of arbitrary leaps that look somewhat like an attempt to cash in on the PSN controversy.

This news comes following Sony's recent announcement [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/109568-Sony-Admits-Private-PSN-Info-Has-Been-Stolen-All-Of-It] that 77 million Playstation Network users' accounts, including credit card information, have been accessed by cyber criminals.

Oh for fu... Exactly when did "No evidence of, but we're not ruling out the possibility" become "has been compromised" ? No really, I'm genuinely asking this because the slow progression from what Sony's officially stated is really scaring people for no proper reason.

Also, please explain how this new way of phishing counts as people's credit cards being compromised? From what it sounds like at the moment is that user score and the like are being held ransom more than anything else, because if Microsoft somehow lets Modern Warfare 2 access a Biling & Authorization system they've got some technical genius working behind the curtains there.

I'm sorry if that comes of as harsh, but I'm just seeing the wording of these stories putting people on edge for no reason at the moment.

It's really getting on my nerves to, these articles are making giant bounds of assumption in these threads and sparking panic for no real reason (maybe a good one, as everyone should be cautious, but still).

This is just a phishing scam, it's not hackers or exploiting code or whatever. This article blatantly contradicts itself when saying "Microsoft has posted a Service Alert, warning Xbox Live users that their credit cards have been compromised by hackers through a Modern Warfare 2 exploit."

And yet in the very next sentence

"Users may receive potential phishing attempts via title specific messaging while playing Modern Warfare 2," the warning reads.

Phishing =/= Hacking

Seriously, Escapist, get your shit together, and I say that in a sincere way. I'm starting to see a pattern with these kinds of articles, it's more of an editorial than a news site.

EXACTLY i read it and I got a serious wtf moment they really REALLY need to fix this before they cause a false panic it's idiotic they went that far

 

[McMullen]

Microsoft has posted a Service Alert, warning Xbox Live users that their credit cards have been compromised by hackers through a Modern Warfare 2 exploit.

Dear allistairp, and Escapist contributors in general,

XBL user's credit cards being compromised and the thing that is actually happening here are two completely different things. Please take more care in writing headlines and article intros that have some connection to reality. You're reminding me more and more of those British "news" services that amuse themselves by completely fabricating stories, like that one nonexistent GTA game. Try harder to not fall into that category.

 

[mattttherman3]

I use prepaid credit cards or microsoft point cards

 

[Fusioncode9]

Jesus Christ, what happened? Did all the hackers band together and vowed revenge on the consoles or something? I don't remember hackers being so serious.

 

[Musiclly enhanced]

so first im seriously worried about my credit card on PSN and NOWWW after playing a long session of cod and seeing people that are trying to sell phishing scams i read this so either way im fucked thanks a lot internet

 

[Ghengis John]

Phishing? You're trying to equate a phishing scam to the recent psn hack?

You need to fix this story because the problem is you're going to feed morons like this guy:

I find this funny after all the Xbox fanboys trying to say "PSN is shit because it's free" and now there's a possibility that their personal info was stolen....on a service they paid for.

Wonder if it's the same people who got the PSN...

Maybe what you want is to be the number one story on playstation fan boy forums and spread misinformation that will have to be dealt with for the next five years across a million social networks. I seriously thought you above playing the Glenn Beck of the internet though.