XBOX Live Denial of Service Attacks

By Marc Handelman on February 23rd, 2009

xbox

News, late Friday, of a response from Microsoft Corporation’s (NasdaqGS: MSFT) XBOX unit, referencing the latest crop of apparent Denial of Service Attacks against players within the software giant’s X-Box Live environment. More information appears after the jump.

From ArsTechnica’s Blake Snow: “Microsoft responds to Xbox Live denial-of-service attack“

“Beating someone over Xbox Live usually results in nothing more than a string of expletives, but some users are reporting that they’re now getting kicked off the network by sore losers using a denial-of-service attack, which bombards your Internet connection with bogus data until it drops out. Worse still, hackers are selling DOS on demand to disgruntled players, the BBC News reported today. That means anyone with a few bucks and a lack of morals can attack players who are simply too good at Street Fighter IV. In a statement given to Ars Technica on Friday, a Microsoft representative responded by saying, “In our continued effort to help provide a safer and more secure experience for our community of more than 17 million members, we are investigating reports involving the use of malicious software tools that an attacker could use to try and disrupt an Xbox LIVE player’s Internet connection…”