14 DAY TRIAL // Security researchers warn that scammers are trying to exploit people's interest into the new Halo Reach game in a variety of ways.
Firs of all, there seem to be a lot of phishing attacks targeting XBox Live accounts on the official Halo forums, which are maintained by the game's developer over at Bungie.net.
Users are advised by the forum's administrators to always check that they are on https://login.live.com when they login into their XBox accounts and that website is secured with with SSL (lock icon visible in the browser).
Chris Boyd, a senior threat researcher at GFI Software (formerly Sunbelt), warns that people searching for Halo Reach downloads, trailers or in-game Skulls [game feature], might end up on malicious websites.
"Something [...] gamers should be wary of is stumbling onto infected sites that through accident or design (in the form of Blackhat SEO) are touting all manner of Malware," he writes on the company's blog.
Another threat comes in the form of fake YouTube videos that promise free code generators and cheats to enhance the gameplay.
These clips take users to external pages where they are asked to take surveys, which try to sign them up for premium rate services.
"It doesn’t matter whether they’re offering up free armour downloads, extra weaponry or, er, 'flaming helmets' – you can bet hard cash that whatever they’re pimping will not work," the GFI researcher advises.
Then there are people who offer account "modding" in exchange for cash or sell already modded ones on eBay and other websites.
Modding is the practice of artificially increasing an account's stats and is prohibited. Paying for such a service is a waste of money, because there is a big chance the account will be banned.
Buying stolen high level accounts is similarly useless, because the true owners will report the hacking and will eventually regain control over them.