XBox Live users see accounts stolen, plundered

A BUNCH OF XBOXERS complain they have had their user IDs taken over while they were playing, finding that they were unable to log into their accounts at a later point.

One user was playing away merrily when a threat came in to the effect that his account would be stolen. It seems some clan has been rifling through the accounts of people who upset its members.

The following day Kevin Finisterre, who happens to be a security researcher, said his girl's account was stolen.

"Some folks are having their Microsoft points stolen and or points purchased via their stolen gamer tag," he said in a posting to the Full Disclosure security mailing list.

Another user on the Xbox forum claimed to have lost five accounts to the renegade clan.

Finisterre got in touch with Microsoft's helpdesk, which, he says, blamed his problems on Bungie, the Microsoft-owned developer of the Halo titles.

But in a statement to VNUNet, a spokesvole said: " Bungie.net has not been hacked and Xbox LIVE accounts have not been stolen. Any reports stating that are false. Xbox LIVE has strict policies against hacking and will penalize any individual who attempts to do so."

However, and probably a little later, a different spokesVole coughed to CNet: "Recently, there have been reports of fraudulent activity and account theft taking place on the Xbox Live network," The firm said it is now "actively investigating all reports of fraudulent behaviour and theft."

D'oh! µ