Hacking Halts Halo 3 and Rocks Xbox Live
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Hackers flood IP addresses to prevent players connecting to Xbox Live network.
Microsoft’s multiplayer online gaming platform, Xbox Live has been the subject of a torrent of hacking which is preventing gamers from accessing their favourite Xbox games.
Hackers have turned their unique skill set to mercenary tactics in online gaming, selling their services to disgruntled gamers to boot online adversaries from the Xbox Live servers.
The ‘Hacker-for-Hire’ service is proving remarkably popular. Gamers are paying as much as $20 (£13) a time in order to have their virtual nemesis taken out of action and unable to continue playing the top games.
Halo 3, Xbox Live’s most popular game is receiving particular attention, with sore losers taking revenge for being ‘headshot’ by getting the hackers to take care of their superior opponents.
The hacking itself is not a particularly complicated affair, as it relies on a data flooding tool which is a technique hackers have used for years. Xbox Live depends on players having an Internet Protocol (IP) address in order to hook up to the online community.
If a hacker can identify the IP address of a particular user, they can use a botnet to send a whole host of data to the single IP address which will overwhelm the connection. As most games are hosted by players and not Microsoft themselves, the sudden deluge of information overwhelms the system causing it to crash.
As Chris Boyd, director of malware research at Facetime Communications told the BBC: “They get your IP address, put it in the booter tool and they attempt to flood the port that uses Xbox traffic. Flooding that port prevents any traffic getting out.”
“The problem will only get worse,” warned Mr Boyd, “As money keeps changing hands and suddenly every rage fuelled gamer who had a dream of really getting even suddenly has the power to do so”. Sadly, there isn’t much that can be done to stop the hacking, although employing a dynamic IP addresses which changes regularly will help.
Even Microsoft have their hands tied in this situation as the hackers are targeting the internet provider rather than Microsoft’s network. Microsoft said that they were “investigating” the issue and that anyone caught using this practice would automatically be banned from using Xbox Live.
Mr Boyd’s solution was practical, if a little defeatist: “Perhaps the best solution is just to let that annoying fourteen year old claim his headshot and go back to playing chess…”
