Has Xbox Live Been Hacked?

Microsoft is strongly denying reports that Xbox Live accounts are being hijacked, claiming instead that the compromised accounts are due to social engineering (read: stealing personal data from idiots).

The reports emerged after security researcher Kevin Finisterre, reported online that he believed his Xbox Live account had been severely compromised, rather alarmingly stating that, "hackers have control of Xbox live and there is nothing we can do about it".

"On Thursday last week I was playing Halo and a gentleman said he was going to steal my account, I phoned Xbox Live support but was given the run-around," he told the BBC earlier today.

"We have looked into the situation and found no evidence of any compromise of the security of Bungie.net [which ties into Live, allowing players to view Halo 2 stats] or our Live network," Microsoft said in an official statement.

"There have been a few isolated incidents where malicious users have been attempting to draw personal information from unsuspecting users and use it to gain access to their Live account… no credit card or other personal information was exposed" the statement adds.

So Microsoft assures us that security is paramount and that the odd security breach is due to social engineering. SPOnG will be researching this matter further today and bringing you all relevant updates.