Saturday, March 12, 2011

The hacking of a promotional site for the Xbox cost Microsoft a fortune

The fragility of a promotional site for Microsoft's Xbox has cost much money. Some media talk about over a million dollars. The company cut that figure, but admits a cost. The problem originated with the launch of a website which yielded a temporary code, two days to enjoy Xbox Live Gold and gave away 160 Microsoft Points (equivalent to two dollars), the virtual currency used in this environment .


On day 6, a surfer discovered a bug in the site architecture that allowed a single owner of an Xbox generate more than a promotional code and thus get more of the 160 points Microsoft rules for each Internet user. The trick was published in a forum The Tech Game and had huge success. Following disclosure of the ruling, Microsoft closed the promotional site but many Internet users had already used it.

Microsoft does not rule out legal action against those who spread the verdict and against Internet users who took advantage of it for violating the conditions of usage. However, identifying them will be difficult because new codes are generated from the old.

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