IndustryGamers - Informing the Games Industry

Xbox Live Hack Costs Microsoft $1.2 Million

Posted March 9, 2011 by M.H. Williams

Yesterday, a lone website went up promising free Microsoft Points to anyone with a little time and effort.  Unlike most promises on the web, the site actually worked, giving users codes worth 160 Microsoft Points every time they refreshed the page.  Hackers had figured out an algorithm to provide new Microsoft Point codes based on slight changes to previously used codes.  Not every code was a winner, but most of them seemingly panned out.  

Save & Quit reports that Microsoft was quick to shut down the offending site, but not before users had downloaded $1.2 million worth of Microsoft Points.  One user said they were able to get away with almost $150 worth of Microsoft Points.  More savvy hackers even used the exploit to create a program that would provide users with more than just 160 Microsoft Points, including a Halo: Reach Banshee avatar prop and a 48-hour Xbox Live trial.

What will Microsoft do to those who received Points via the website and exploit?  Bans are a good assumption, but can the platform holder even track down all the offending users?

[Via Destructoid]

M.H. Williams has been writing in some form or another for ten years and has been a hardcore gamer since the NES first graced American shores.  You can catch him on Twitter as @AutomaticZen, Google+ as himself, or on his personal Facebook page.