Microsoft Responds to FIFA 12 Hacks

Based on all the folks claiming their accounts have been hacked in the previous report, we decided to reach out to Microsoft and see if they had any official update on what’s going on. Their response isn’t exactly sexy.

We do not have any evidence the Xbox LIVE service has been compromised. We take the security of our service seriously and work on an ongoing basis to improve it against evolving threats. However, a limited number of members have contacted us regarding unauthorized access to their accounts by outside individuals. We are working with our impacted members directly to resolve any unauthorized changes to their accounts. As always, we highly recommend our members follow the Xbox LIVE Account Security guidance provided at www.xbox.com/security to be protect your account.

Basically, Microsoft isn’t acknowledging that a widespread system compromise did take place, nor that there’s anything systemic in the compromise. This appears contrary to the user response we’re seeing on the previous story, but then again, we don’t have the whole picture.

Normally, I’d view this as a case of Internet busybodies making up stories just to be dramatic, but too many of these stories ring true. Plus, Activision Social Media Manager Dan “One of Swords” Amrich is a victim here, and I doubt he’s the sort to tell tales.

Here’s a collection of other stories provided by the community –

Connor Savas:

Ass holes did this to me I had 2110 map on my gtag and now there’s 30 I recovered my tag only to find that FIFA 12 was my last game played and 15g was on the game 1 was star a ultimate team. 2 Was sum outher one not no what I’m going to do ):

Nick:

Looks like mine got hacked too. And I thought that my sister had played her friend’s FIFA12 when they came over. Damn.

Vincent:

Ive had the exact thing happen to me… but it was with fifa 11. on august 20 i went to work came home and found that my account was recovered to a different Xbox. i tried to recover but the password was changes. i change it again recovered it and reported it to Microsoft. that lock my account and said they will “look into it”. Its been 2 months now and nothing has happen. the little bastard that stole my account also stole 200 bucks from my back account. to buy 10000 Microsoft points and a family gold pack. i took notice of this story when fifa 12 was mention. but i was hacked BEFORE that game came out. with fifa 11. maybe it really is because of EAs servers. And to top it off when i finally made progress with Microsoft on the phone they told me that when they do get to my account i wont be able to log in for a month. woooo.not.

Deryl32:

Ive had the exact thing happen to me… but it was with fifa 11. on august 20 i went to work came home and found that my account was recovered to a different Xbox. i tried to recover but the password was changes. i change it again recovered it and reported it to Microsoft. that lock my account and said they will “look into it”. Its been 2 months now and nothing has happen. the little bastard that stole my account also stole 200 bucks from my back account. to buy 10000 Microsoft points and a family gold pack. i took notice of this story when fifa 12 was mention. but i was hacked BEFORE that game came out. with fifa 11. maybe it really is because of EAs servers. And to top it off when i finally made progress with Microsoft on the phone they told me that when they do get to my account i wont be able to log in for a month. woooo.not.

Rich-c:

I would really appreciate some word on how we are all getting are accounts hacked with this Fifa thing and Microsoft is saying nothing is going on. Its all over the net and twitter. I am locked out of my xbox live account and had money stolen for 6000 Microsoft points. So can you guys please Cowboy up and release the INFO. So people can protect them self.

Shane:

I had mine hacked two days ago. They bought 10,000 MS point and seem to have spend them all (including some I already had on my account) on FIFA bundles. It was easy enough to retrieve my account but how hard it’s going to be to get my money back is another question. Microsoft support have warned me it might take a month for the investigation to finish and until it does I can’t use Xbox live, Windows live, or Games For Windows live. Not impressed!

Jeff:

I also was hit with this on Saturday, October 15th. I also do not use the EA servers. I also haven’t used this username or password for at least 5 years. It is outdated and irrelevant due to life changes.

I suspect that Microsoft has hackers inside their servers. Fortunately I only lost a few thousand MS points. My 4 year old son managed to purchase the highest MS points deal a few years ago because the CC was linked. That got removed very quickly.

I’d suggest to anyone, affected or not, NEVER put your bank or CC info on ANY site. PayPal, Microsoft, PSN, etc. The thieves appear to be ahead of the corporations.

I’d note that I also got two FIFA achievements. That seems to be the “fingerprint” left behind on this issue. That is actually how I figured out that I was affected by this hacking.

Microsoft still wants to say that it was either a “mix up” or that I allowed someone to Phish my account info. I don’t ever fall for phishing tactics. If I get an email suggesting that I go online, I use my trusted bookmark link or I don’t visit the page. I verify ALL emails before entering info.

Dan:

Add me to the list of hacked , 3 fifa cheevos & locked out of my gamertag. worse bit is xbox support dragging their feet over sorting these accounts out & returning them to their rightful owners.

Julian:

I just got my account hacked. I was at work when my friend called me to tell me that I had just logged in to play FIFA 12. He knew I was at work so thankfully he called me and I was able to get the account locked down immediately. The guy bought $75 of MS points and spent it on a Gold Premium Content pack. I’d be less annoyed if he had bought stuff for a better game (in my opinion. Obviously some people like the EA series of yearly sports titles.). Hope this gets plugged soon, I’d hate to have to dump XBL cause some hooligans are causing mayhem via EA servers (yet another reason for me to loathe EA) and it affects people who don’t play on them.

Dave:

I recently found out I was hacked. I do not play FIFA12 (although I WAS going to buy it). However I DO play NHL12 and NCAA12 – both EA servers. I found out when the hackers bought 10,000 microsoft points on my credit card – I received an e-mail to my primary e-mail address. After I found out, I immediately cancelled my credit card and filed a dispute on the charges. I called microsoft – they are starting an investigation but I can’t recover my gamertag or go online for the next 25 days. Microsoft said they could permanently ban the offender’s machine from playing on xbox live. I’d rather see the person in handcuffs but if they’re overseas I guess there’s not much you can do…

Felipe:

Happened to me earlier this morning, if I hadn’t gotten notices by mail about the first purchase of $50 they’d have gone on draining my card I bet. Microsoft locked the account at my request and they promise a refund but if they’re still saying there’s no problem on their side then the evidence says otherwise. Also, you don’t need to own Fifa 12 for this to happen to you, my system has never even touched a sports game.

Connor:

Its fucking xbox, i just got my account havked, and i have never played a fifa game in my life

I’m trying to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt here, but it’s a little hard to accept that they “do not have any evidence the Xbox LIVE service has been compromised” after all the testimonials above. Then again, Electronic Arts appears to be tacitly connected to the issue, so we’ll follow up with them as well.