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Tim Reynolds loaded his 007 Agent Under Fire into his Xbox and resumed playing, figuring that this time he would finally finish the game. He first noticed that the game's title screen looked a bit odd, though he didn't worry too much and commenced playing. Suddenly, he realized that his game had been tampered with by an outside source. Not only had the words "I 0Wn j00" appeared on his television, but somebody had maliciously replaced the Agent Under Fire Bond character with Timothy Dalton. This was obviously a vicious and evil attack.

Microsoft has issued a press release stating that they were aware of the vulnerability and were working hard to issue a patch for the hole. Since Microsoft does not yet have their broadband gaming network up and running, this exploit will only affect those users who have installed software available from GameSpy and XboxGW to get online.

A vulnerable system?

According to security expert Jacob Guninski, the problem occurs when a user connects his Xbox to the GameSpy network. Guninski says that Microsoft included a trojan virus with its system and the hackers have begun to exploit its existence on the machine. When asked why Microsoft would include a virus with its own hardware, a Microsoft spokesman said that "...With the history of most Microsoft software being vulnerable and prone to attacks, we might as well make it easier for them. We didn't want them destroying everything trying to find the holes."

"But won't this hole allow hackers to maliciously enter a system and completely take control, possibly destroying everything anyway?" asked the WP.

"Well, if you put it that way," she replied.

Only a few users have been affected so far. While attacks so far have been humorous at most, from adding characters to games like replacing Shrek with Rosie O'Donnell, to changing Halo to "Homo" while adding the overhand bitch slap to your arsenal of weapons choices. Users have also reported that Jayson Williams has been added to EA's NBA Live with a killer new trick up his sleeve.

"As script kiddies know this may lead to taking full control over user's console," said Guninski. "Although everything has been fun up to this point, as soon as the broadband network goes online, there will be more and more attacks that won't quite be as funny once news of this flaw starts spreading."

Guninski says that everything from DOS attacks to being able to control the lights and flushing the toilets in your home could be possible. They could make sure your Xbox DVD player will only play region 5 or make sure it will only play Woody Allen movies. The possibilities are endless.

- the guy with no alias

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