14 DAY TRIAL // Following Microsoft's announcement regarding the first hijacked Xbox Live account, which in the end proved to be false, questions started to arise whether this would be tried eventually. And it did. More and more reports of hijacked WoW accounts are being heard of so why wouldn't this happen with XBLA, which hasn't got a higher security level? The age.com posts a report coming from Australian computer security experts. They claim that with console users and players of online PC games such as WoW, there is a high risk of being attacked.
In Microsoft's case, phone-support staff had been tricked into giving account details of some Xbox Live customers to unauthorized callers, thus it can be done. Some online users have indeed complained of hijacked accounts - they were charged for purchases they hadn't actually made. In the same report, Stefana Muller, director of product management at security software maker CA 1, also believes that users of consoles going online are the new target for hijackers: "I think it's going to be an 'I did it' kind of target, 'I got to exploit this gaming console'. It's obvious that once a new thing comes out, if it's cool, it will be exploited."
MacLeonard Starkey, security analyst for Australia's Computer Emergency Response Team, observes the situation from a safer angle. His advice is simple: "The malicious code is often coming through from vectors other than the games themselves, usually via a site that you're directed to go to, sometimes from a MySpace profile or an email, and the code then targets a particular online game." So mainly, monitor your account closely, maybe change your password every once in a while, and keep away from creepy emails, or too generous ones (they work best). It doesn't matter if you own a console. Your XBLA account is likely to be stolen just as WoW accounts. Some WoWers even reported that 5 years worth of achievements had been stolen from them. Think of the frustration, never mind the virtual money.