A “phishing” attempt is when a player is contacted by an another in an attempt to get hold of things like service passwords and credit card information. It’s a fairly common thing over online services, but there are obviously enough attempts going on related to a single title at this specific time (in this case, Modern Warfare 2) that Microsoft needed to put up a warning about it.
It’s hardly on the same scale as Sony’s prolonged and widespread downtime, of course, but there are suspicions that the two are related, if only because all the attention focused on Sony’s service has surely attracted extra scumbags hoping to cash in.
[via Develop]
Elephant Fresh
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 9:49 PMHedge them bets microsoft! Because you know what would suck worse than having your personal and cc details exposed to hackers? Paying $60/year to have your personal and cc details exposed to hackers.
Jason Cartwright
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 10:30 PMNo your right, having your cc details exposed to hackers on a free service is so much better.
Jakob Smolinski
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 10:38 PMAs I said in the main topic, I’m hoping that part of my subscription fee does go towards establishing, majntaining and UPDATING proper security measures. I hope the Xbox Live hacking of 2007 has already taught MS that lesson… Having said that, this security issue does not appear to be anywhere near the shitstorm that Sony are engulfed in. I have faith in you, Microsoft – for now.
Mr Waffle
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 11:48 PMThey’re probably covering their butts over the fact a fair few people would use the same details for both a PSN and Live account.
Robert Sabo
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 2:43 AMMy thoughts exactly.
Weresmurf
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 6:26 AMOf course… What kind of idiot would do that… O_o *ulp*
Awnshegh
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 8:29 AMI think they’re just taking the time to remind people that it’s easier to ‘socially engineer’ a person than it is to hack a site/account. The Xbox forums are filled with complaints of people who have stupidly passed over their personal details to strangers in order to get ahead in a game. While M$ actively work to remove the perpetrators as always the best defense is common sense.
Jason Oliver
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 8:59 AMThis is totally why I buy the cards rather than use my credit card on Xbox Live
Awnshegh
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 9:28 AMCards won’t matter if you give them access to your account. They simply use access to your account to steal your identity. Remember most people use the same username and password across multiple sites – including their banking.
I think it’s important to remember Credit Card leaks are easily fixed with a replacement and the bank reversing charges. Identity theft is a much worse situation which can lead to long term issues in all aspects of your life.
I have a friend who 3 years after having his identity stolen found the only way to break the cycle was to change his name.